I highlight the global health crisis of septicaemia and sepsis which affects approximately 30 million people every year across the world and kills 9 million. In Ireland 3,000 people die from sepsis each year. It claims more lives than heart attack, breast cancer or lung cancer. It can kill a person within 12 hours, as the parents of Sean Hughes from Finglas, Joe and Karen, know all about. Sean was only 15 years old when he suddenly lost consciousness while watching television with his mother and recovering from a simple flu-like illness. Despite the best efforts of his father and paramedics to resuscitate him, he died later in Temple Street Hospital. His parents are calling for a nationwide awareness campaign to highlight the signs and symptoms of sepsis. I support them and hope I will get the support of the House in that regard also.

Sean’s parents want the HSE and health professionals to formulate new protocols for the diagnosis of sepsis and the procedures used because it is important to pick up and treat this killer disease as soon as possible. It is being missed and people are dying unnecessarily. Karen and Joe did not know what sepsis was and are not alone. According to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, it is estimated that only 28% of Irish people have an accurate understanding of what sepsis is. When one presents at an outpatients department or a GP’s surgery, one often sees literature on public information campaigns such as the campaign on meningitis and the FAST campaign on the signs and symptoms of stroke. There is a need for a similar campaign to educate people about sepsis. A similar check list must be created to the ones featured in other campaigns. Sepsis can occur quickly. While one’s immune system normally fights infection, it sometimes fails and people experience multi-organ failure and die as a result of sepsis. However, if it is diagnosed early, it can be treated easily with antibiotics. Anyone, however young and healthy, is at risk of dying from sepsis.

World Sepsis Day is 13 September. It is time to treat this issue with the seriousness it demands. We must ensure people are aware of what sepsis is, understand the risk factors and know how to combat it. By 13 September every household in the country should have been made aware of a disease which kills more Irish people than heart attack, breast cancer and lung cancer. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on the issue in the near future.

This morning I speak with frustration. It is a beautiful morning in Dublin, but there was a dusting of snow in Cork, as a result of which we experienced two and a half hour delays to get into the city from Bandon and Kinsale. Where is the winter maintenance plan? There was a major snow event last year, from which it seems we learned nothing. We are moving from January into February and may now be too late. However, we need the Minister with responsibility for local government to attend the House to explain what the priorities are. A dusting of snow in Cork has resulted in school closures and two and a half hour delays on major infrastructure in entering Cork city from Carrs Hill and Bandon, which makes no logical sense in the environment and society we are trying to build. I do not know how it could have happened again and where the winter plan went. Where is the plan for basic things like gritting and the salting of roads? It must be nationally led and a significant plan must be put in place. I am horrified by what I have heard has happened in Cork in the past few hours. The Leader is from that part of the world and knows what the issues are. He is very aware of the morning people have had there. We must have a real debate next week with the Minister with responsibility for local government on what he plans to do about this issue in the next few weeks. If we do not, the country will grind to a halt if there is another fall of snow. It is beyond belief. Have we learned anything in the past 12 months? There will be a cold snap in the next few days and action is needed. We need to see exactly what is planned. What we saw this morning was a complete and unbelievable shambles. One could not have imagined that it would take people from Carrigaline and Kinsale two and a half hours to get into Cork city. This is fairyland stuff and one has to wonder what kind of society we are building. The Minister with responsibility for local government must attend the House to outline what we learned from last year's experience and set out what he changed as a result. It just is not working.

Iarraim ar an gCeannaire cuireadh a thabhairt don Aire, an Teachta Heather Humphreys, chuig an Teach. The GDPR is becoming a major issue for small businesses in Ireland.

It is a significant cost and significant risk for them, be they sole practitioners in services, solicitors, accountants and especially doctors and medics who are dealing with patients, as well as a lot of other small businesses. We should have a conversation or a discussion about it to see what we can do to facilitate small businesses. It is not that they are trying to avoid anything, but it looks like one big brush has come from the EU across all businesses, big and small. The SME sector employs more than 1 million people in Ireland - 98% of all businesses in Ireland are small and medium-sized businesses, particularly in rural Ireland - yet again it is the SME sector that is suffering significantly from this bureaucratic requirement in compliance with the GDPR. The compliance requirements on businesses that employ two, three, four or five people are very similar to those placed on large multinationals.