I wish to comment on Senator Ardagh's contribution about domestic violence. Research was published last week that shows one in six pregnant women is at risk of mental ill health and depression. The subject of domestic abuse against pregnant women was included in the research, but it did not go into detail, and the rage that is displayed against them and their unborn child. I welcome the research. It is a very worthwhile discussion. We need to keep it in the headlines.

I also wish to raise a good news story with regard to mental health. Yesterday, the Housing Agency and the HSE launched a book containing housing design guidelines for providing accommodation for those who live with persistent mental health conditions. At a time when we seem to be trying to break down walls brick by brick to try to secure more funding for mental health services, especially in the area of 24-7 crisis intervention, this story is uplifting. I wholeheartedly commend the staff of the HSE and the Housing Agency who were involved in putting together this 121 page booklet which took four years of work. I believe it is the first of its kind in the world.

What is most pleasing is that the majority of measures outlined in this booklet are not costly. The authors provide simple solutions for those with severe cognitive impairment and memory loss which will make their lives simpler and enable them to live independently. The booklet is particularly welcome in the context of the planned large-scale building of social housing which I hope will begin without delay. A point to note is that the booklet only relates to houses. The guidelines therein should be adapted for use in hospitals, primary care centres, mental health residential care centres, GP surgeries, schools, colleges and so forth. I hope this is the start of a process of changing our way of thinking about this issue.

I cannot conclude without mentioning the urgent need for the full implementation of A Vision for Change and the most pressing need for the provision of 24/7 crisis intervention services. An online petition on mental health services launched by the Uplift organisation yesterday has had thousands of responses so far.

I thank and congratulate the staff of the HSE on this most welcome piece of work, of which they and the service users should be extremely proud.

I commend Senator Catherine Ardagh for raising the issue of domestic violence and agree with her comments. I also commend the Safe Ireland summit, a very strong gathering of people who refocused the view of domestic violence as being a women's problem to being a societal problem. The summit demonstrated that domestic violence is a problem for society as a whole and that it will take an all-of-society approach to tackle it.

I concur with Senator Ardagh's points on that issue and ask the Leader to schedule a debate on the matter with particular reference to the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, its ratification and the provisions and measures to be put in place under the terms of the convention. I also understand that new domestic violence legislation is in play and it would be useful for this House to have a real and high profile debate on the issue during which we can discuss our concerns more deeply.

We have had some debate on the recent election in the United States of America which I am not going to reprise now. However, there are some issues which we may need to tease out, particularly with regard to those who did not vote. There has been considerable focus on those who voted in different ways in the election but a vast number of people, well over 40% of the electorate, did not vote. That is where we see disaffection and people pulling away from the political system. This is a concern for all of us in Europe as well. We should debate the wider question of encouraging political engagement and rebuilding connections with those who feel that they have no candidate for whom to vote.

That said, I want to speak more to policies, which is our focus in this House. I have deep concerns about racism. We have seen both misogyny and racism growing across America. We have seen a rise in racist attacks since the election, much as we saw in the UK following the Brexit referendum. There is an issue when the political class sends out signals that allow for racial hatred to gain traction. We have seen the appointment of somebody who has been recognised as a white supremacist, namely, the chief strategist who has been appointed to the President-elect's incoming cabinet. This is an individual who has a strong record in white nationalism and whose appointment has been described by the Ku Klux Klan as "amazing". Indeed, the Ku Klux Klan is planning to hold an open and celebratory parade to mark the outcome of the election.

These are issues of concern for us. In Ireland, nationalism and racism have occasionally reared their heads. However, I am pleased to say that thanks to the wisdom of the Irish people, they have not gained traction here. Deep racism has not gained traction in any of the political parties in this country. We have seen it emerging again this week in yet another attempt to gain political credibility for positions of hatred. The wisdom of the Irish people has ensured that such views have not gained traction but as parliamentarians we have a role to play in sending out very strong signals of inclusion, equality and anti-racism.

Climate change is another area of huge concern. The President-elect has appointed individuals who do not believe in climate change to US environmental agencies. One year on from the Paris Agreement, which the world signed together, the nations of the world have gathered again to debate climate change. There have been very strong signals from China, India and others to the new Administration in the United States of America that there can be no roll back on climate change commitments.

I will conclude with a question to the Leader. I ask him to ensure that the Irish Government also sends a very strong signal that the US election result will not be used as an excuse to allow things to slide but will be taken as a mandate to strengthen our commitments on climate change. I know that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport will be in the House later to discuss transport related issues but I ask the Leader to invite him to come back to the House at a future date to specifically address the question of sustainable transport.