I would like to extend my sympathies to the Cathaoirleach on the death of his sister and to Senator Coghlan on the death of his mother. I think that as one gets older, it is even more difficult to lose a parent or a sibling because one might not have youth on one's side to get through the terrible grief. I ask the Cathaoirleach and Senator Coghlan to accept my sincerest sympathies.

I agree with what my colleague, Senator Mulherin, said earlier our natural environment. As a member of the Joint Committee on Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, I believe we should have a new Department that deals with the natural environment. I do not know whether this is constitutionally possible. It is all very well to hope other Departments will take action. We need to think about the destruction of the natural environment and about how dependent we are on the natural environment. The recent documentary drama on Chernobyl showed what we are capable of destroying within ourselves as technology advances. The Government should think about establishing a Department where this issue could be taken extremely seriously. To give a simple example, we constantly use the natural environment - birds, animals, mammals and fish - to advertise. Eir used the murmuration of starlings to advertise its technology. I do not remember Birdwatch Ireland getting hundreds of thousands of euro for that. A company would have to pay others hundreds of thousands of euro to use their image or logo.

Such practices are commonplace in tourism. Visitors come to see our island, waters, puffins and other birds and to fish, but we do not put the same amount of money into the development of our natural environment as we do into technological development. We should consider developing a Department with responsibility for our natural environment and its preservation.

The second issue I wish to discuss is the proposed strike by healthcare assistants who keep the best of us alive in the healthcare environment. We need to discuss their critical skills, career trajectory and pay and conditions. I read in a newspaper that we did not have enough barbers and that critical skills employment permits were being issued to boners and other workers in the agriculture industry. Given the ageing population, there is a great need for healthcare assistants in private homes and private, public and voluntary nursing homes. We should develop a task force to determine what we will do to assist the 6,000 people who are looking for assistance and remedy the fact that 1,800 vacancies have not been filled.

I, too, extend my sympathy to the Cathaoirleach on the death of his sister and to Senator Coghlan on the death of his mother. When such events occur, we realise the insignificance of the other things about which we worry in life.

Last week I told the House that I was to travel to Westminster and mentioned Rory Stewart, a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Most Senators did not know who he was, but he is now seen as the main rival of Boris Johnson for the leadership. Sometimes we watch such contests in anticipation of the result. Whoever becomes leader of the Conservative Party will be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and have a significant impact on our relationship with the United Kingdom, as well as that between the United Kingdom and the European Union. It is not our decision. Last week I thanked Rory Stewart for at least talking about the impact of Brexit on the island of Ireland. Our voice needs to be heard in the United Kingdom, as well as in the European Union.

I hope Senators will forgive me for being self-indulgent. I congratulate the Roscommon football team on their wonderful victory last Sunday. I was at the match in Galway and there was great joy. A humorous video of Paddy Joe the barber jumping up and down with the cup in Roscommon town is doing the rounds. He is one of the loveliest and wisest people in County Roscommon. Sometimes one encounters people who are passionate about football and their own county but who do not like certain other counties or matters. However, Paddy Joe is one of the nicest people I know and does not mind when another county wins the Connacht football championship. It is nice to see such an attitude. Now that Roscommon have won the Connacht championship, I do not mind if Galway or Mayo win the all-Ireland football championship.