I thank the 19 members of the House for their contributions. I join Senator Wilson and all Members in offering our sympathies to the bereaved families, the Taiwan representative in Ireland, H.E. Representative Tu and President Tsai Ing-wen, on the tragic deaths in the earthquake in Taiwan. As Senator Wilson said, those who have visited Taiwan recognise the warmth and generosity of the people, and we offer the people, those who have been injured and the bereaved our sympathies and support. I will revert to Senator Wilson's remarks on Taiwan.

I am seldom speechless, but I have no answer to Senator Daly's-----

The Leader has never been speechless.

I have no answer to Senator Daly's remarks.

Perhaps the Leader would consider the issue and come back to him next week.

I think the Cathaoirleach has given the Leader advice whether he uses it or not.

I am not sure whether it is a Kerryman's joke or a riddle, but he wants the Minister to come to the House to comment on speculation and allegation about something he did not see. Good man, Senator Daly.

The problem is that this is happening in his Department. I am just assisting him in making him aware of it.

It would be a good trailer for a drama along the lines of "Yes, Minister".

It sounds like it. It is most certainly "Yes, Minister" in the Department of Health.

The Leader should not start wandering.

The Senator is looking for a debate on an allegation of an allegation and speculation. I can impart some good news to Senator Daly on the capital development plan, and I hope that we will have a new hospital in Cork. We badly need one. It is long overdue. We have three tremendous hospitals in the city serving the catchment area beyond Cork city and county. I sincerely believe there is a need to have a new hospital for Cork along with-----

Kerry.

Kerry, as an add on.

I should remind the Leader that many good Kerry footballers were born in Cork.

That is true too. The Cathaoirleach is dead right. When I listen to Senator Daly and his colleagues speaking about his party's record on health, I wonder where I am and what I was doing for more than a decade. I recall that his party leader fled from the Department of Health and Children and left poor Mary Harney in situ saecula saeculorum. There are challenges in the health system that need to be met. The Sláintecare report which is committed to the future development of our health system is based primarily on moving people from acute hospitals and having them treated in the community by the primary care team. This is a model we should all support.

I agree with the Senator on the issue of Brexit and the expressions, however one would describe them, emanating from the UK.

Confusion is the word I think the Leader is looking for.

That is a polite way of saying it. Senator Richmond, who chaired a Brexit committee of the Seanad, is continuing with the work of that committee. I hope that as part of that committee, we will be able to have further engagement. It is important that we have ongoing dialogue between Members of the Oireachtas and members of the UK Parliament, be it the House of Lords or the Commons, to explain and to influence the situation. It is equally as important, and I am not sounding a partisan note, that we have devolved government in Stormont, with the politicians representing the communities from which they come, rather than having direct rule from the Government in the UK. I commend the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, on his work.

If I may, a Chathaoirligh, I wish to take this opportunity to wish Deputy Adams well in his retirement. I wish the party well on this weekend because political parties reinvent themselves, and for the members of Sinn Féin, this is a weekend for members to say good luck and say hello to a new leader. I wish Deputies Adams and McDonald well.

There is a duty now on the political parties in the North to come to the table and to have the voice of the North of our country heard by politicians in Brexit. I agree with Senator Daly. The Government has been quite clear. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, spoke last week about our role and what we want from the talks on Brexit. We have not demurred from any of the positions yet.

I have already responded to the issue of overprescribing when I addressed the comments of Senator Burke. Senator Mullen is correct in saying that overprescribing has increased disproportionately in a decade. I agree that overprescribing has a human consequence that does not get noticed until death, dependency or the need to access treatment or services to deal with it. We need to highlight the issue of dependency to create awareness of how it has grown.

Prescribing is an issue for doctors and medics. An independent case was taken by an individual doctor. I agree with Senator Mullen and also with the report in The Sunday Business Post that Senator Colm Burke referenced. The issue was raised at the Committee on Health yesterday. I would be happy to arrange to have a debate on it in this House. We are sleepwalking into a problem and we must take a proactive role in reducing dependency on prescription drugs and overprescribing. Prescribing is a matter for individual doctors. We need to have a conversation on the issue and I am happy to arrange it.

Senator Dolan raised the issue of public transport for people with disabilities. As I said yesterday, it will require a whole-of-government approach and leadership from the top. It is also important to recognise and to give credit to the public transport bodies. There have been improvements and progress has been made around accessibility, but we have more road to travel. The point was made yesterday at the joint committee that it is not just about the buses, Luas or DART service but also about the bus stop, ramp, lighting, and accessibility to the railway or DART station or to the bus stop. The testimonies given at yesterday's committee meeting were powerful. They showed that we need to treat people with respect and with dignity and we have to continue to do that. It is unacceptable that people would have such a dreadful experience, as outlined to the committee. I know from my work in Cork with the disability groups that it is a frustrating and terrible experience. We should consider how, as Members of the Oireachtas, we can engage with each other on how we can make the issues highlighted by Senator Dolan more visible.

I would be quite happy to work with the Senator in that regard and to have that debate in the House. Senator Rose Conway-Walsh spoke about Deputy Micheál Martin more than anything else. One point she did not make, however, was that we should invite everybody to attend the united Ireland conference in Cork and to participate in the discussion. It should not just be about one group of people who want a united Ireland. I am a republican and a nationalist. I want to have a united Ireland. Let us include everybody. Let us not wrap the theme around just one group.

That is not the point.

It is about all of us having that conversation and being involved in that movement. I saw the list of speakers for the conference in City Hall in Cork. It is one-dimensional. It only has one side. Let us make it broader. That is my opinion. While I agree with the Senator, it is a conversation which we must have in all of the communities of our country - north, south, east and west.

Senator Ó Ríordáin referred to his comments on the Order of Business last week and he read a letter into the record of the House. I will not respond other than to say that it is the right of all Members to represent their communities and their constituencies and to campaign and advocate on behalf of people. That is a fundamental right given to all of us. Equally, a developer, and I am not referring specifically to this case, is entitled to his or her good name and to have any facts and information put out about him or her to be accurate. To be fair, this is a Chamber of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Democracy is about freedom of expression and the ability to come to the House and make contributions.

Senator Conway spoke about the important issue of takeaway coffee cups and Senator Reilly referred to the Young Fine Gael campaign on non-compostable coffee cups. This is an issue we should all be involved in. We were educated on the plastic bag levy and on other things such as seat belts. It is a gradual progression. I know Senator Devine mentioned bringing one's own cup. That is something we should look at. We should think about how we can change. The reusable cups are probably a matter for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission and I am happy to defer to it on that matter.

On Senator Gallagher's contribution, we are bringing people home and recruiting them to work in our health care system. The Senator is right that we must do more to retain people but also to attract people back. We need to incentivise that and ensure that our best and brightest health care professionals return to our country. That is a debate which we need to have and I would be happy to facilitate it.

Senators Byrne and Kieran O'Donnell referred to the bus crash in Limerick yesterday. I join them in paying tribute to the first responders, gardaí, ambulance personnel, fire brigade personnel, county council staff, and health and hospital staff who worked so hard yesterday. We should be thankful that there was no loss of life. As Senator O'Donnell said, the bus was back today and there were people on it. That is a wonderful thing to say but there is a need to have a review of our school bus transport system. Some of it is franchised out to private operators. There is a need to uphold standards and ensure that they are not minimal but exceptional, because we are talking about young children.

I welcome the new jobs for Limerick the company 4site announced yesterday which Senator Byrne spoke about. It is good to see more jobs in Limerick. I am sure all Members of the House will agree that it is wonderful to see unemployment falling and more people back at work.

Senator Devine raised the issue of home care packages and home help hours, on which I fundamentally agree with her. There is a need to do more and provide more. The Government is committed to it. The Minister, Deputy Harris, secured €25 million in funding for social care as part of the health budget this year. This includes funding for home care supports, new home care packages, and a move away from acute hospitals into transition care beds, which is important. We must work on that. The HSE is developing a policy in respect of home care packages. I fundamentally agree with the Senator. We need to invest more of our health budget in health care packages to keep people at home, keep them out of our hospitals and, as the Deputy rightly said, avoid people being lonely and suffering from isolation. It is a fundamental task which we all must aspire to deal with. I make no apology for agreeing with the Senator on that issue and working with her on it. It is an important issue. I wish that the HSE and some in the Department of Health would recognise the importance of home care packages and the benefits they bring to people in our communities.

Hear, hear.

Members of our families, our friends and our neighbours benefit from these packages. They are not anonymous or invisible. They are citizens of our Republic. The HSE has a duty to provide care and to work with people.

Without wanting to strike a discordant note, in developing a package around home care, we must bear in mind that it is not about creating an industry for some. It cannot be that. It is about caring for the people who need that help. That is being lost in some cases. I am not saying that it is lost on Senator Devine. I fundamentally agree with her on that particular point. I am not familiar with the area she referred to. If she wants to give me the information, I will forward it to the Minister. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, is well aware of it, but I would be happy to take it up with her or with the Minister, Deputy Harris, on the Senator's behalf.

Senator Reilly referred to the issue of the national development plan and day hospitals. This goes back to my comment to Senator Devine. It is about taking people out of our acute hospitals, building transitional care beds and creating day hospitals in which people can have procedures carried out and which will have step-down facilities. That is fundamental to what we are trying to do as a Government in respect of the Sláintecare report. It is about making services easier for people to access. Senator Mark Daly referred to the emergency departments. If we referred fewer people to emergency departments and had more primary care centres, it would also reduce the burden on the emergency departments. It is part of an ongoing process that we must work through to eliminate overcrowding and to ensure that we have day care beds.

Senator Wilson raised the issue of Ireland, Taiwan and the One China policy. I agree with him. There is a fundamental need to review how we deal with many different nations and governments. The Taiwanese yearn to do more trade with us and to engage more with us from cultural, economic and social points of view. We have seen successful Irish companies in Taipei and in many parts of Taiwan bringing in and creating jobs. I understand the size of China and its importance but the One China policy could be looked at in the context of developing further economic and industrial links with Taiwan. We have a very good representative of Taiwan in H.E. Simon S.K. Tu. He works hard in reaching out through the chambers of commerce and in visiting different parts of the countries. This is about having a two-way street. I would be happy to have a debate in the House on that relationship. This is an issue which, as Senator Wilson rightly illustrated, can bring benefit to our country.

I also agree with Senator Wilson with respect to the cross-Border initiative and on the need for people to be able to access the finance at the outset. I know they can get 90% of it back afterwards, but it is an important initiative and it has seen success. People can be referred to the North of our country by their GP in respect of eyes and cataracts. We need to see that initiative developed and I would be happy to invite the Minister in for a debate in that regard.

Senator Butler raised the issue of the Church of Scientology and Ballivor. I know that he has been very involved in this issue with Councillor Noel French. The issue is that Meath County Council has granted an exemption to the trust which Senator Butler mentioned. It is important that we have a debate about the role of the Church of Scientology and the cult-like way in which it operates.

Senator Gavan raised the very important issue of direct provision and asylum seekers being able to work in our country. The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, the Taoiseach and the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, have been in the House and referred to the issue. The Government is committed to the EU reception conditions directive and to people being able to work. It is important to recognise that there is now an obligation on Government to transpose that Supreme Court decision into action. I hope that will happen soon. It needs to happen. I accept that.

Senator Mulherin raised the important issue of section 39 organisations. I agree with her. There is an anomaly. The Cathaoirleach and I are familiar with Marymount Hospice in Cork where the workers fall under section 39 and are being paid less than their HSE equivalents. There was a pay cut in some of the section 39 organisations which has not been restored. There is need to see the service level agreement the HSE has with these section 39 organisations changed because if people are not paid properly, the agreement must be changed. That service level agreement is about offering a suite of services which might include respite care, assessment for autism, and speech and language therapy among other things. The review exercise which the Minister has initiated is fundamental to the issue which Senator Mulherin has raised.

I hope that, as a consequence of the review, staff in section 39 organisations such as those working in Marymount University Hospital and Hospice in Cork will have their pay restored. The State should increase the block grants it provides to section 39 organisations to facilitate pay increases for workers.

To respond to Senator Ó Domhnall, the Minister for Health has been in the House multiple times. I like the Senator's suggestion of having a rolling debate. We are having a series of debates on health. The Minister appeared before the House last week to discuss emergency departments and will come to the House again to discuss other issues. This process should continue as the topic raised by the Senator is an important one.

I disagree with Senator Ó Domhnaill's analysis of health expenditure. Ireland is among the top five countries in the world for spending per capita on health. The health budget is higher than it has ever been. The issue is not what we spend but how we spend it and ensuring there is accountability in the system. The system must be reformed to deliver value for money, while also recognising that the patient is at the centre of what we do in the health system. We can have an ongoing debate on health.

Senators Lombard and Kieran O'Donnell raised the issue of Irish Water. Last week, I stated that Irish Water should resume its clinic for Members of the Oireachtas. As the Senators correctly pointed out, Members are experiencing difficulties obtaining answers on specific issues that arise in communities. Senator Kieran O'Donnell also noted that Irish Water is also outsourcing work. The important issue is to ensure Irish Water resumes its clinics for Members of the Oireachtas because these give us, as public representatives, access to members of staff who can follow up on the issues we raise and revert to us with responses. I have asked Irish Water to do this. I will also ask the Minister to come to the House.