I wish to comment on two recent issues. First, the Celtic interconnector is a game changer. The Government has received significant moneys from the European Union for this major piece of infrastructure. It is a €1 billion project and more than half of the money is coming from the European Union. It will give us the interconnector we require to connect to the Continent and will have the capability to bring power supplies to nearly 500,000 houses. It will close the loop. We are already connected to the United Kingdom and will now be connected to the Continent. It is a really significant project, about which we have been talking for a decade or two. As I said, it is a game changer and what we need for fuel security and to have lower prices.

The other issue I want to raise is Brexit, on which a significant statement was made in the United Kingdom yesterday.

It is something we need to consider. It is not the basis for a deal but it is probably the basis for further negotiations. Further negotiations could be what we need to get a deal. There is a bit of Brexit fatigue now and people are getting tired of the debate, but it is important that we hold the line on the core principles we are looking for. It was a positive statement and we need to work with it and negotiate on it.

We are in the middle of a severe weather warning. I do not normally get involved in local politics as my job is to support people in local politics. I am reassured as I watch county councils prepare for severe weather. Members of the Defence Forces have spent the past 48 hours preparing sandbags and vehicles to deal with the worst the storm may bring. It is important to place on the record of this House our appreciation for the work they do, even though they may not be required at the end of the day. I am frequently asked why we need a defence force. This is just one of the tiny jobs it does, from bomb disposal through to sandbags for floods and being available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but that is what it is there for. It is important also to recognise that county council and city council workers carry out the same role and are available on a 24-7 basis, 365 days of the year in a national emergency.

I second Senator Humphreys's amendment to the Order of Business. I also wish to raise the issue of dual diagnosis. I read an article in The Irish Times today about a young man who sought help for psychiatric issues but was turned away because of addiction issues. Last year a person was in position to work on a strategy in the area of dual diagnosis but the person was subsequently let go. The job was readvertised and the person applied for it but did not get it. As far as I am aware the position remains empty while, every week, people with suicidal ideation or severe psychosis are being sent away from hospitals because of addiction. We should have got to the stage where we understand that addiction and mental health are often a chicken-and-egg situation. I would like the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, to make a statement in the House on the issue. It would need to be the Minister because, by siloing the issue to Ministers of State like Deputy Daly or Deputy Catherine Byrne, we continue to accept that one Department has responsibility for the dual strategy diagnosis when it needs to be a targeted health strategy. We need to know that services can no longer turn somebody away because of a dual diagnosis. We need a care plan that addresses addiction and dual diagnosis because people are dying every week because they cannot access services.

I endorse 100% of what Senator Craughwell said about our Defence Forces and our county councillors and councils throughout the Twenty-six Counties. It is quite obvious from what the British Government, led by Boris Johnson, has been saying and by what it has submitted to the European Union that it is intent on crashing out without a deal. It is time for cool heads and I wish the Government well in the crucial coming few weeks. It is important that we look to the future and to what proposals the Government has relating to the British border on this island. I agree with Senator Bacik, who said she took exception to the Border being referred to as an "Irish border" when it is a British border imposed on this island. The British are now neglecting their duty to their citizens in the Six Counties and to the people throughout the Thirty-two Counties, as well as to the Anglo-Irish Agreement. I ask the Deputy Leader to invite the Taoiseach into the House so that we have an opportunity to hear the Government's proposals for ensuring that this island is not decimated. We have heard about the tropical storm that we are facing in the next 24 hours but the tropical storm fuelled by the hot air from 10 Downing Street will turn this debacle into a typhoon that will destroy this 32-county nation.

I would like to hear what proposals the Taoiseach has for the Border counties. For almost four decades we were decimated, economically and politically, and it is important the Taoiseach outlines to the Border communities his proposals for their security, including their economic security. Down through the decades there has been a neglect of the Border region and a disconnect from it. Looking at the rail network map of the 1920s, nobody was more than 20 minutes from a railway station on the 32-county island, and this was a time when people had to use a horse and cart. Looking at the railway map of today, there is no rail line to Dublin north of Galway or Sligo. More worryingly, a map of motorway infrastructure that has been constructed over the past 20 years shows a very disturbing similarity, with a total disconnect from the Border region and the North of Ireland. It is time we faced up to this and looked at the proposals to remedy it, and did so quickly.

Hear, hear.