Like my colleague, Senator Conway-Walsh, I attended yesterday evening the presentation in the audiovisual room on autism assistance dogs, which was arranged by our colleague Deputy Cahill. Like other colleagues from this and the Lower House who attended, I was very impressed by the positive impact the dogs have not only on young people in improving the way they live their lives but also on their families. Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland made a very emotional presentation on how the dogs had transformed the lives of their children and made a plea that €500,000 be put aside annually for the training of 20 dogs. Even though the organisation has more than 250 young people on a waiting list, this is all it is requesting the State provide. Until now, the dogs have been provided by charitable organisations. I very much support the call for this money to be provided annually.

I support my colleague Senator Gallagher in his comments on tourism, particularly on the neglect of the part of the country from which we come, namely, the Cavan-Monaghan area, and the midlands. We are part of a tourism promotional area called Ireland's Ancient East, even though we are in the midlands and, in the case of counties Cavan and Leitrim, veering towards the west. While some other regions that have been designated have had huge success, I think we are entitled to a specially designated tourism area covering the north midlands.