First, I express my sympathy and condolences to the Murphy family and the Tullamore community on the senseless murder of Ashling Murphy.

Second, I warmly welcome the announcement made today that public healthcare workers who worked on the front line during the Covid-19 pandemic are to receive a once-off €1,000 tax-free payment. I note and particularly welcome that student nurses who did placements in hospitals and healthcare settings are also in line for the payment. That is good news for student nurses to kick off 2022. What would be better news for student nurses and midwives would be confirmation on when they will get their €100 weekly stipend because the last time I checked, the moneys had yet to enter any of their bank accounts. The Deputy Leader might be so good as to follow up with her party colleague, the Minister for Health, on this issue.

I want to reflect briefly on the discussion on the national drugs strategy that took place at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Health this morning. I wish to note that Senator Ruane and I were in attendance.

The conversation felt at times as if we were back in the time of Richard Nixon declaring a war on drugs. That has simply proven to be unfounded and a waste of time, money and resources. It only perpetuates stigma and harm on drug users.

The Government has declared it is taking a health-led approach to drugs, but what I heard today at the committee did not instil much confidence that this is true. For the record, I am a harm reductionist, if that is the terminology we can use. I believe it is the only practical, realistic, person-centred approach we can take to drugs. The international evidence also supports this. In addition, in the committee there was a great deal of conflation of decriminalising and legalising drugs. If we are to have a mature, well-informed discussion on this topic, which I believe the public wants, and there are calls for a citizens' assembly on this issue, the least we can do is understand what we are talking about. I urge Members to get informed on the terminology, to put preconceived notions about drug users to the back of their minds and to engage with the evidence on how we can truly reduce drug-related harm.

I send my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of, and everybody who loved, Ashling Murphy, and indeed to all the women who we have lost and whose lives have been stolen in this country and across the world. We know lives have been taken, lives have been destroyed and lives have been threatened continuously in this country. We speak about it in this Chamber quite often. I and other colleagues have been raising gender abuse, abuse, sexual harassment and sexual assault continuously for months and years in this Chamber. I was told on the radio the other morning that women should start speaking up about it. I told the presenter that men and people should start listening and that changes have to start happening.

Senator Malcolm Byrne spoke about people changing their routes when running. A woman was assaulted on a route at home where I used to run. I have not run there since then because I am afraid. I look behind me constantly when I run. I look behind more now when I am running or out and about. It is not right. We are exhausted with it. It is just relentless. Every day of the week one can look at the headlines about girls being assaulted, and the sentencing in some cases is absolutely incomparable to the damage done to women.

This is a day of celebration for mná na hÉireann. I am very glad it is a Louth woman, St. Brigid, who was born in Faughart. Remember that this woman gouged out her eyes to make herself ugly because she did not want unwanted attention from men. On the day that we remember St. Brigid and revel in her strength and mightiness and how proud we are to have her as our patron saint, remember what she did to get rid of unwanted attention from men. I applaud her, although I do not agree with it. However, that is what she did in the fifth century. Go on, Brigid.

I echo what Senator Hoey said about the health committee meeting. I had to turn off the camera at one stage as I thought I was going to have a panic attack. I thought I had been hurled through time, given everything I have stood for in this Chamber over the last six years and hoped that people were listening to me. I felt very disheartened and sad. I thought: "What is the point in me constantly speaking about this issue?" when I listened to the Minister of State, who is now two years into the role. I believe my 14-year-old could have engaged better on the issue in the health committee meeting today. I am absolutely appalled that this is where we are, two years into his term of office.

However, that is not the reason I stand to speak today. We have had many conversations over the years about the impacts of Covid-19 on people, schools, education and the health sector, but we have had very little discussion about its impact on those in the prison system. I do a lot of work on education in schools in the prison system. When we think about education we do not think about education within the institutions where we detain people. People there do not have access to their families, as they usually would. At home, we can have telephone calls, we can have FaceTime meetings and we can talk to our loved ones when we have to go into isolation. However, when one is in a prison, one is in a prison within a prison within a prison because one will be locked down for up to 12 or 14 days for being a close contact. We also have not set up the health system properly in the prison system to be able to offer vaccinations adequately on intake in terms of the COVAX system.

A prisoner in Mountjoy wrote to me. He lost one of his jobs within the prison because he would have to shave his beard to be able to use the masks that are now required to be worn. For some people, it is a big deal to be asked to shave their beard. That could be for religious or cultural reasons, but it could also be that the person feels vulnerable. Facial hair for men can sometimes be far more than something they think looks well; it can be a way to hide themselves and hold themselves. There is a significant amount happening within the prison system. In fairness to the Irish Prison Service, it is trying to deal with this issue in the context of what is already quite a difficult situation in terms of outbreaks. I ask the Leader to consider facilitating a debate on the impact of Covid-19 on those in prison.