I wish to be associated with the vote of thanks to all of the members of staff in the Seanad and in the Houses of the Oireachtas more generally. We certainly could not do our job without their help, and also the work of our secretarial assistants. I hope all of the staff will get a well-deserved break at some stage over the summer.

I congratulate the Houses of the Oireachtas on its organisation of the Mná sa Seanad yesterday. It was great to see and hear Tras Honan. Ms Honan made such an enormous contribution to Irish life and she still has a very keen interest in it. I thank all of those who organised that event.

I welcome the fact that the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, has announced that she is going to proceed with hate crime legislation. I am conscious that the Minister has announced this on a number of occasions but it now seems to be the case that it is progressing. I commend my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin. The Senator has introduced hate crime legislation previously in the Dáil and in the Seanad. When the Senator's Bill came before this House I was fortunate to be able to second it. Such legislation is required as a matter of urgency. I ask the Deputy Leader to do everything she can to expedite this legislation.

We have finally seen the publication of the report by the Future of Media Commission yesterday. The report was delivered to the Government nine months ago. I am glad that the Government has taken on board 49 of the 50 recommendations. I am disappointed that we will not have time in this session to have a debate on the future of media. We need a debate around local and national media, how it is funded, and tackling fake news and disinformation. I ask that this House would communicate our concern around the issue of funding of RTÉ. The question of licence fee reform has been kicked down the road yet again with another working group. I understand entirely that there must be an overhaul and that there has to be a review, but when this takes place I ask that a decision is taken quickly so that the national broadcaster can have certainty with regard to its funding.

I wish people a happy summer recess. I hope they get the time off they deserve. Today I want to acknowledge the work of our secretarial assistants. I would not like to come back into another Seanad term without their pay addressed and changed so they do get the actual wage they deserve for the work they do.

Hear, hear.

This issue has been even more relevant over the past few weeks as we move through a huge amount of legislation at such a quick speed. Our secretarial assistants sometimes work above and beyond the hours they should be working, going through the legislation with us line by line. This applies especially to Independent Senators because we do not have a huge amount of staff and resources. We rely heavily on each other within our group.

I believe that we do not acknowledge each other enough. I would like to acknowledge the leader of the Civil Engagement Group. She would be raging if she walked in now. I am absolutely honoured to work with such a powerhouse. She does not only think about herself or domestic issues: her vision is far-reaching for Ireland, for the globe, for Europe. Seeing the way in which she approaches every single piece of legislation, I do not believe I would have the level of smarts to be able to actually understand such nuance in the way she does. I also acknowledge Senator Seery Kearney, from whom I have learned a huge amount.

Hear, hear.

Sometimes we do not extend this appreciation across the House. I have been working with Senator Seery Kearney on the surrogacy committee and we have also engaged other issues. It is always great to see women working towards enriching the lives of people, enhancing people's experiences, extending human rights to people, and not looking to sow division or to exclude people.

Sometimes in here we can wrap quite exclusionary language in civility. We can wrap aggression in politeness. We can see through it and we can see that language matters. Sometimes I will come in and I will be quite blunt and harsh and there is outrage but not everybody wants to hide what they think and believe behind civility and politeness. It is much braver to be our true authentic selves and to be fully clear of what we mean, what we say, how we say it, and be very clear that it is not framed in any other shape or form. I hope when we return to the Houses in the new term we can actually call this out and hold people accountable when they are wrapping violence up in civility.

Well said.

I thank Senator Ruane.