I can only bring in two more Senators. We are supposed to start the Bill at 4.45 p.m., and there could be a vote. I just ask the Senators to be brief if they can.

In response to what Senator Davitt said about money resting in accounts, as we know, it does not always earn interest. Fr. Ted Crilly was a great man for saying that money was resting in his account.

I wish to make two brief points. First, I do not believe that mandatory sentences are the way to deal with violence against police. The people who go to jail on mandatory sentences will get six months or a year at Mountjoy and their life is ruined as a consequence. Financial penalties are sometimes far more effective than putting some young fellow into jail.

Second, I refer to a certain type of case that has arisen in the past. I remember a case involving a Sinn Féin supporter called McIntyre who got substantial damages after being prosecuted for assaulting gardaí when he proved to a jury that he had been the victim of the assault. There has to be a fair approach to all of this. Sending people to jail on a kind of American basis where there is no hope for them and they have to go to jail is not the answer to the problem. Nobody is more supportive of the Garda than I am, but I just do not think it would achieve its stated purpose.

On what was said about the motion in the names of Senator Boyhan, me and others, I do not think Senator Boyhan wants to deprive anybody of the opportunity of discussing the matter. If the Leader were to indicate that some time would be made available to discuss this issue at some point in the future where everybody in the House could have an opportunity to put their tuppence worth, we could arrive at a happy solution rather than put the matter to a vote.

Well said.

Every November we mark the gender pay gap in Ireland and across other European countries. The reality is that in Ireland, women workers on average earn almost a quarter less compared with their male counterparts. The latest available data is for 2020. We know that women, on average, earned 22% less on an annual basis. This is not the hourly basis that one often hears quoted; this is annual basis. Some 22% less is a shocking figure. That is in spite of significant growth in full-time female employment during the pandemic years of 2020 to 2022. We will see the legislation on gender pay gap reporting, which is very welcome, kicking in at the end of this year. However, it is important to note that is only one measure. Until we have proper collective bargaining rights in this country and proper transparency as to how jobs and promotions are advertised, we will not have any hope of trying to narrow that 22% figure.

The other issue I just want to briefly reference is regarding the disgraceful scenes that we have seen in East Wall over the past few days. It is important to say that from talking to people in East Wall, because I live not that far from it, many are very hurt that the name of their area has been dragged through the mud and they are being depicted as racist and anti-immigrant.

The reality could not be more different.

There can be no excuse for protests. No matter what pressure there is on local services, there can never be an excuse to intimidate people or make them feel unwelcome. This is a co-ordinated effort on the part of certain individuals to try to rouse up a crowd outside of the old ESB building in East Wall. I support what Senators Hoey and Ruane spoke about earlier but it is important to say that there is an enormous strain in the north inner city, in that there is a massive shortage of services in health, education and early years services. The Government has to step up. As things are already under an enormous strain, the Government has to step up and put those services in place so that it does right by both the 380 individuals and families going into the old ESB building and everybody else in the community as well.

I have four minutes and four full pages of notes on what was presented to me so if I do not get to everybody I apologise but I will try to touch on the main topics. I am happy to accept the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senator O'Loughlin and I will take up her offer too. We will withdraw her amendment and I will come back and see if we can find time to debate it if that is okay with the Independent Group.

One of the biggest topics that was raised is our support for An Garda Síochána. What we witnessed the other night is hard to understand and comprehend. What is even worse is it is not an isolated incident; these incidents are being presented to our gardaí week in and week out. That is not just happening in the areas we hear about on the television because there are bad apples in every single community and it is not fair to name Ballyfermot, Ballymun or any of the places we come from because there are bad apples in every barrel in every part of Ireland. I do not make the following point in any disrespectful way towards anybody who made contributions today or to any Minister, current or former. It is easy for us to stand up and say we support the Garda. We value our policing by consent because it makes for an Irish model. Irish society is changing, however, and I am not sure I can stand here and genuinely say I agree with the point about sentencing instead of fining. I am supportive of early intervention and providing services for children and young adults who might otherwise be led into certain types of lifestyles but we have an element of pure evil in our society that no amount of €1,000 or €5,000 fines will fix.

I do not know what the answer is and I am not standing here saying I do but Senators will agree with me that the morale in the Garda is as low as I have ever seen it. When I was younger and we were getting work after school and college, a number of members of my family, as in all of our families probably, went into An Garda Síochána. We felt pride for them and we still do but I am sorry because I would not let any of my children consider being a garda today because their morale is so low and the conditions they are working under are so different to what they were before. We say we support them and yet we are doing little to show we support them.

Hear, hear. Well said.

That is what we need to concentrate on, not just at our level but at every level of society and in the Government, particularly our Ministers and the Cabinet. A young man is in hospital today with staples and stitches in his head from being beaten with his own torch the other night. Two female gardaí who were in Cherry Orchard a couple of weeks ago have not gone back to work yet and there is no sign of them doing so. The Garda in Balbriggan is down nearly 10% on the quota of its employment figures because its members are sick and they cannot come to work. The stress they are working under is palpable and we need to do something about it and stop talking about it. That is my tuppence worth.

There is nobody joining up either.

The other thing that was brought up by many Senators is the ugly scenes we saw in East Wall the other night. They are not unique and we have seen them in other parts of the country in recent years. Senator Ruane talked about how difficult it is to have those conversations with people you care about because there is a growing sense among people and not just those - and I do not know who they are except maybe two or three personalities who we know from the media - who we call the far right, as if there is some looming group over there. There are individuals but their sentiments are creeping into what we would call normal society. The responsibility on changing, challenging or fixing that has to be borne by all of us. I do not know how to have those conversations either, except, as Senator Ruane said, by doing so quietly with the people you love and care about. One must explain the point to them, no matter what their anger or issue is with the State or with a lack of services.

Many communities have for many moons had difficulties and issues that need to be addressed. It is not the fault of the men who got off the bus in East Wall the other night, however, or the people who live in counties Sligo or Clare who have come to our shores because they flee circumstances that some of us maybe cannot even comprehend. While life is difficult in Ireland, it cannot be anything remotely as difficult as having to get on a boat or train to leave a country thousands of miles away. We all know the difficulties of some of those people who have come here. We need to challenge ourselves as to how we have that conversation to make sure the hospitality and heart we know Irish people have is maintained in our welcome.

The other main issue today was raised by Senator Buttimer. I have always been a huge fan of football. Over the last number of years, we have seen both the power and the demise of FIFA as an organisation. We have seen how men who were giants in our eyes for donkeys years have been crumbled by corruption. What I saw this week, however, was one of the weakest organisations I have ever seen. What I really do not know or understand is why. We are all well aware of the horrendous reputation of Qatar. A figure of 85% of the people who live there are immigrants, and it is not by accident. It is absolutely by design. I really do not understand how smart people who are at the top of their game managing an international sport could have allowed what happened this week to happen. Even worse to my mind is that the entire world is looking on with this elephant in the room. While we all say it is disgraceful, it will still carry on. We still have play-offs, semi-finals and great matches and festivities. In the meantime, however, people are being marginalised because of who they are and we are doing nothing about it.

One of our colleagues today spoke about the bravery of the Iranians who stood up for the people of their country yesterday. At the same time, we as a country are going to reopen our embassy in Teheran in the next couple of weeks. I really do not know what is going on in international communities when we think it is okay to reward people who have disgusting human rights records, which is exactly what we did with Qatar. Even on smaller levels, however, we all have a contribution to make. To my mind, opening our embassy in Teheran is absolutely despicable.

Hear, hear.

Other colleagues raised other issues, which I will come back to at a later date.