It is disappointing that we have had a breakdown in respect of devolved government in Northern Ireland. It is a time for cool heads and calm words. At stake are the issues in terms of Northern Ireland and its people on all sides. There is great volatility and danger in Northern Ireland; there are the challenges of peace and economic prosperity and the challenges that come with Brexit. One must ask who is representing those who do not vote DUP or Conservative. That is another very profound question. Who is representing that large cohort? I am always concerned when there is a vacuum. I am a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, BIPA. As the previous Senator said, there is always ongoing dialogue with people in this House, the Dáil and all political dimensions within the island of Ireland. It behoves us to continue to keep that dialogue and discussion going on. Anyone who is a member of BIPA will say we are warmly received and have many opportunities to engage on a social, personal and political level, which is very sensible.

Some young people attended a BIPA conference last year and they told us of their frustration at the lack of any representation. It is a whole generation of people aged 18, 19 or 20, who are really getting fed up with all of the political parties and the whole political process. They cautioned us about many issues such as high unemployment, disadvantages, prejudice and alienation. All of that adds up to volatility and a dangerous situation.

I am hopeful that discussions will be ongoing between Sinn Féin and the DUP and that they can get back together. It might be helpful if people had some idea of the terms. Nobody should be allowed get away with compromising fundamental rights of the people and their expressions of their culture, language and identity. We would be failing if we backed down and did not support people of any political hue who fought hard for people's rights and their expression of culture and language.

I call Senator Norris.

President Norris.

I completely agree with Senator McDowell. If he cares to put down a motion that Seanad Éireann utterly condemns the decision of Permanent TSB to sell off those mortgages, I would certainly be honoured to second it. We had a discussion in the House about a year ago when I introduced the National Housing Co-operative Bill 2017, which would have addressed the situation of the vulture funds. It is an absolute disgrace. I have to laugh when I think of 1916. God almighty, when we have the State evicting people it is a bit of a nonsense.

Last night I saw a film on television. I congratulate RTÉ on producing it. It was a documentary called "Condemned to Remember", by Tomi Reichental, who is a survivor of Bergen-Belsen. It was extremely powerful. It was in two parts; the first dealt with his origins in Czechoslovakia and his capture at age seven by the SS, when he was sent to Bergen-Belsen. The second part was even more powerful. It showed interviews with people all over Europe and news footage of what is going on now in places like Bratislava, where Muslims were having stones pelted at them and being told "Slovakia for Slovaks", "we do not want you", "we do not want Muslims" and "F-U-C-K Allah".

Senator Norris-----

It is absolutely disgraceful. It is not a laughing matter. It is extremely serious. We are now looking at a recreation of the kind of conditions that happened in the 1930s. We really have to do something about it.

Tomi Reichental also spoke to a young Syrian man. The documentary showed hundreds and thousands of desperate Syrian refugees. It showed the conditions in Aleppo, with completely bombed-out suburbs. Where are these people to go? It is the same situation as in Nazi Germany and the rest of Europe, yet Europe is turning its face against these refugees, with the exception of Germany. This is something that, out of humanity, we must address. We really should look at the refugee situation. I have known Tomi Reichental for many years and have always honoured him but my respect for him increased enormously as a result of that powerful and moving film.

Hear, hear.

We need to be very careful in respect of Northern Ireland at present. It is a time for cool heads and calmness. There is a problem in that we do not have an Assembly. We have a group representing the entire population of Northern Ireland in the House of Commons that has the support of about 36% of the population. There is another 64% that is not represented there. We really do not know where we are going in respect of Brexit and how it will affect Northern Ireland. It is a very difficult time. We need to be very careful about how we deal with it. There have been set-backs in the past after which progress was made. Hopefully, over the next six to eight months, we will see some real progress on all sides. There has to be some movement by the people who are purporting to represent all of Northern Ireland in the House of Commons. It needs to be very carefully managed from the point of view of the entire island of Ireland. I might have had my disagreements with Sinn Féin previously but I believe that it made substantial concessions and tried to bring about a solution to this problem. Let us not play the blame game at this time.

My colleague raised a matter in respect of the Taoiseach and I think his comments were taken out of context. I have been very much to the forefront of the general practitioner contract negotiations. I have been consistently meeting and discussing the issues with the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, and the National Association of General Practitioners, NAGP. We need to make progress on this matter and it needs to be fast-tracked. I have dealt with this within my own party and will continue to deal with it. I assure the House that serious efforts are being made to bring all sides together in order that we can progress the negotiations on this matter. Over the next three to four weeks, I hope that substantial progress will be made.

We need a new contract for GPs and we need to give them the support they deserve. A very interesting figure was highlighted at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health yesterday. The cost of funding St. James's Hospital for 12 months is €864 million. That is exactly the same amount of money that is paid out to cover the cost of supporting GPs. This is an issue that needs to be given priority. We need to give priority to the people on the front line. Finally, I am a little disappointed with the way the HSE has used funding. There are now 2,600 more people working in administration and management in the HSE than was the case in December 2014. This is at a time when the issue in respect of front-line staff is not being given the same priority.