I would like to follow on from what Senator Ivana Bacik said about the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre's annual report which was launched today. While I support the call for a debate on victims' rights, I would like to go further by asking for a debate on the services that are available to victims of sexual assault. Such a debate is necessary in the light not only of the report that has been published today but also last week's revelation by Rape Crisis Network Ireland that following a cut in its core funding, it is concerned that it will not be able to maintain or continue its services. We do not want to see survivors of abuse abandoned, particularly in the light of some of the figures presented by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre today. Senator Ivana Bacik mentioned the 14% increase in calls reporting adult rape. I would also like to mention that there was a 30% increase in first-time callers to the national rape helpline last year, that 55% of genuine calls were first-time contacts and that more than 4,000 repeat contacts were received. Some 104 of the 293 cases in which the reporting status was known were reported to the Garda. We will all agree that these figures highlight the important need for these services, which are invaluable for the victims of sexual assault and rape, to be in place. The need for these services is obvious. At a time when the statistics are so stark and paint such a shocking and harrowing picture of the reality of sexual assault in Ireland, it is clear that we need to invest more funding and resources in rape crisis services than we do at present. We need to move to allay the fears of these services that they are going to be cut further, or that they may have to discontinue. As has been mentioned, we also need to ensure legislation to protect victims is strengthened. We cannot allow core funding for these services to be removed as that would be a major backward step in services for people who have experienced sexual violence. I am calling for a debate on that issue.

I would also like to support Senator Darragh O'Brien's call for defibrillators to be provided. When I raised this issue previously, I asked about the status of Senator Feargal Quinn's Bill. One of my colleagues on Cavan County Council recently got a motion passed that called for the provision of defibrillators in public areas.

I echo Senator Ivana Bacik's words. As yesterday went on, we saw the true extent of the horror of what had actually happened in Berkeley, California. A number of students remain in hospital and their lives are still at risk. Our prayers go with them. Ireland is a very small country. A number of the students who died had gone to school in Loreto College in Foxrock, which is in my constituency, and were students in University College Dublin. One of the deceased sat at a debs table with my daughter just last year and debated with her in a college society. That is the extent of the hurt in the Dún Laoghaire area today.

One point came to my attention in the media coverage. There is compulsory medical insurance with the J1 visa, but it might not be enough to cover the hospital costs of some of the students who remain in hospital with severe illnesses who may take months to recover. They may never fully recover. I made this point previously when other tragedies have occurred. I would like the issue of whether we have a fund to cover situations like this to be raised with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The last thing a family needs in this type of situation is to be worried about whether it has the resources to cover hospital bills. I ask the Leader to raise this issue as a formal question with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Do we or do we not have this type of resource within the Department?

I would like to bring to the attention of the House the comments made by the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, at yesterday's Generation Rent conference organised by Threshold. The Minister said he would focus his efforts on bringing rent certainty to the rental market. In the past 12 months, we have all seen stories about the extreme increases in rents. I was delighted to learn that the Minister had spoken about measures to link rent increases with an independent index such as the consumer price index. I was also pleased to discover he is willing to look at rental accommodation standards. Perhaps we might have a debate on the rental sector and on rent increases at a future date.