Boston is a sister city of Belfast.

Regarding pre-clearance facilities at Irish airports, I accept the bona fides of many Members and those who comment on social media and elsewhere, but as someone who has travelled extensively across America, I believe the removal of pre-clearance facilities at Irish airports would hinder business. We must be careful to ensure we will not sever our economic ties with America. I welcome the Taoiseach's remarks in the Dáil this afternoon and yesterday that there will be a review of the facilities. It is worth pointing out that they were used by 1.8 million passengers at Dublin Airport and 204,000 at Shannon Airport. They include tourists, visitors and business people from many parts of the world. The facilities are important. They allow persons travelling to America to avail of the immigration service on this side of the Atlantic. The important and fundamental point is that Irish law continues to apply. The Taoiseach's remarks in calling for a review of the pre-clearance facilities are to be welcomed, but we must ensure we will not hinder in any way the free movement of people.

I very much look forward to the executive order being modified. We know what has happened since Saturday when there was a change for green card holders. I am sure those of us who condemn what has taken place will work to ensure there will a change to the executive order.

Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell spoke about Westport House. I join her in congratulating the Hughes family on their €50 million investment to ensure the retention of jobs. I pay tribute to the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring; the Taoiseach and Mayo County Council for the work they have been doing. The Senator is right in saying this is both a national and a regional triumph. It is important that Westport House continue to provide the service it has been providing.

On Brexit, at the risk of provoking a row with my good friend Senator Gerard P. Craughwell who raised the matter, as did Senators Frances Black and Paudie Coffey, the Taoiseach was not engaged in a debate yesterday at Queen's University because he was in the most important place he could have been, namely, Government Buildings, engaging on and discussing the issue with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

That is the problem - it is all talk.

I would much prefer to have the Taoiseach in Government Buildings engaging with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, rather than in a debating chamber at Queen's University.

Absolutely.

I do not want to have a row with Senator Gerard P. Craughwell, but the Government has been engaged-----

I was not talking about the Taoiseach. Perhaps some of his party's soldiers might come along to the meetings.

Let me make the point-----

The Leader always does.

-----that as a political party, Fine Gael has appointed Deputies Alan Farrell and Fergus O'Dowd as co-chairmen in considering its response to Brexit. I invite the Senator to join me in my home city of Cork where the Taoiseach will speak at a public meeting on the issue on 13 February.

That shows that, in addition to the very successful meetings we have had in many parts of the country about Brexit, another would be more than welcome.

But we do not know what they are doing.

I accept the point that we cannot lose sight of the importance of Brexit. That is why the Government created a second Secretary General post in the Department of the Taoiseach to deal explicitly with issues related to Brexit. It is also why the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, has confirmed that an extra €2.6 billion is being made available to support the economy in responding to Brexit. It is important that we keep the issue in the political diary and on the political agenda. It is a little unfair to suggest, therefore, that the Government is not engaging. The Taoiseach has travelled throughout Europe. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, has also travelled, while the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, is engaging on the issue. It is important that we understand Ireland will be to the forefront with its European Union partners in working to find a solution. Yesterday the importance of this country and the North-South divide was highlighted to ensure there would not be a hard border.

Senator Paudie Coffey raised the issue of interconnectivity in Europe and referred to the importance of energy projects. I will be happy to have the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Energy, Deputy Denis Naughten, come to the House to address those issues.

Senator Joan Freeman referred to the importance of mental health services. The Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, will be in the House tomorrow to respond to a Commencement matter to be raised by Senator Gabrielle McFadden. The Minister of State has travelled the country and committed to making available the funding she secured in the budget for mental health services. It is important that we work together to highlight the issue and that the moneys which have been secured be ring-fenced, whether for youth mental health services which the Senator rightly mentioned or the provision of 24-hour support to ensure the availability of people out of hours, an issue on which we all need to seek a solution. We all commend the Senator for the work she is undertaking in another capacity. As she rightly said, the problem is one that does not stop at 5 p.m. in the evening or at 5 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. It is important that we work together to ensure there will be a different approach to how we respond to mental health needs. A Vision for Change, a document that has evolved into Government policy, perhaps needs to be changed and amended. To be fair to her, the Minister of State is committed and has worked with the Health Service Executive in recognising, in its service plan, that there are action points to be implemented.

Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh asked for the Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora, Deputy Joe McHugh, to come to the House. I hope that will happen in the coming weeks.

Senators Alice-Mary Higgins and Martin Conway mentioned Shannon Airport. We should not react the way we sometimes do when it comes to Shannon Airport. There is an international agreement that we must honour in keeping with our neutrality, as I am sure the Government will do and is doing.

The issue of green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, payments was raised by Senators Rose Conway-Walsh and Pádraig MacLochlainn. I can inform Members that today the president of the Irish Farmers Association, Mr. Joe Healy, met departmental officials. On Friday 1,164 members of the farming community received payments. I understand there are around 9,000 outstanding payments since October. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Michael Creed, is committed to dealing with the matter to ensure payments will be made as quickly as possible. There will be weekly payment rounds. It is important to mention that in some cases GLAS applications must be validated to satisfy EU regulations since the scheme is co-funded by the European Union.

Senators Frances Black and Catherine Noone raised the very important issue of alcohol misuse, in the context of which they referred to fetal alcohol syndrome and the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015. To respond to Senator Frances Black in particular, it is not a matter of Fine Gael supporting the Bill but of all Members of the House supporting it, whether they be Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Independent, Fine Gael or Labour Party Members. It is important that there be all-party support for it. We all want to see a reduction in the level of harm caused by alcohol misuse.

Senator Máire Devine referred to the decision of Mr. Justice Kelly in the High Court in the Angela Kerins case.

I will not get into the minutiae of the ruling, but I welcome the decision of Mr. Justice Kelly which is worth reading. Those of us who are Members of this House have a responsibility not to allow that privilege to be abused. We cannot abuse that privilege by ridiculing a person, although I am not saying any of us has done so.