The Order of Business is No. 1, statements on public order and safe streets, to be taken at 12.45 p.m. and to conclude at 2.15 p.m., if not previously concluded, with a time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes, all other Senators not to exceed five minutes, and time can be shared, and the Minister to be given no less than eight minutes to reply to the debate; No. 2, Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Dáil] - Committee Stage, to be taken at 2.15 p.m. and to adjourn at 4 p.m., if not previously concluded; No. 3 motion regarding the Planning and Development (Exempted Development) (No. 4) Regulations 2022, back from committee to be taken at 4 p.m. and to conclude at 5 p.m., if not previously concluded, with time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed six minutes, all Senators not to exceed six minutes and the Minister to be given no less than six minutes to reply to the debate; No. 125, motion 4, Private Members' business, motion regarding neutrality, to be taken at 5.15 p.m., with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours; and No. 4, Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2022 [Dáil] - Second Stage, to be taken at 7.15 p.m. and to conclude after 75 minutes, if not previously concluded, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed seven minutes, all other Senators not to exceed four minutes and the Minister to be given no less than seven minutes to reply to the debate.

The Acting Leader may recall on 3 April this year I spoke on the Order of Business about a young lady, Aimee Foley, from my hometown of Ennistymon. I spoke about her bravery in waiving her anonymity and speaking openly, honestly and candidly about her experience at the hands of her father. I spoke about how disappointed she was with the justice system where he only received a short sentence of five years. I am delighted that Aimee Foley is here in the Gallery today and I would like to welcome her, and her mother, Camille, and her husband, Dermot, to Seanad Éireann. As a result of Aimee waiving her anonymity, and it was only as a result of doing so, the DPP proceeded to appeal the leniency of the sentence. A number of weeks ago, the sentence was doubled to ten years. Aimee's bravery resulted in shaking the justice system in this country.

Now, Aimee wants to see change that will impact positively on the lives of anyone else in this country who has been sexually abused or raped. She wants to see minimum sentencing for anyone who is convicted of rape in this country. I do not think that is too much to ask. If someone is raped it impacts on them for the rest of their lives so the person who perpetrates such a heinous crime should face a mandatory minimum sentencing. That does not mean that it is a maximum sentence, of course. The maximum sentence, in many cases, should be a lot more. When somebody has the bravery to declare what has happened to them in life, go to the Garda, do what they are encouraged to do, make a report, make a complaint and proceed to court, the least they should expect is that when the criminal is found guilty that they will get a minimum sentence of seven years. Aimee also wants to see work done in terms of much greater support for victims who go through the system. Her experience was haphazard, to say the least. She felt that the supports were not there for her when her case was going through the courts. That needs to change fundamentally. Furthermore, when somebody is convicted, the victim can often be forgotten. There needs to be a proper dedicated support structure for victims who are trying to rebuild their lives following on from a successful court case.

There is a lot of work that this House can do in terms of highlighting these issues and bringing them to the attention of Government. They are not party political issues but they are political issues. They are political issues that everyone across the political divide from all parties or none should sign up to, and I know in most cases they do.

Later today, Aimee is meeting the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Simon Harris, and the Chair of the justice committee. She will also meet other political figures in this House. I would like to commend her again on her bravery and welcome her and her family to the House today.

I thank Senator Conway for bringing Aimee to Seanad Éireann today along with her family and those who supported her on this very tough journey. I commend her bravery in taking on the system. It resulted in her getting some semblance of justice even though it could never make up for all that happened to her.

She is standing up for herself and for other victims who the system did not always treat as fairly as it might have. She went on to take on the case, appealing it and revealing her identity - which is often very difficult - and then went on from there by being a voice for others, which, hopefully, will have the impact that Senator Conway spoke about. I thank her for coming to Seanad Éireann today.

I join with the Cathaoirleach and Senator Conway in welcoming Aimee, her family and friends here today. If Aimee and people like her did not stand up, they would not get that justice. I will support and work with her and I admire what she has done.

I will continue by welcoming all those who have been in the Gallery today but also by extending congratulations to our junior certificate students, who are getting their exam results today. Possibly most of them have received their results by now. There were 67,000 students involved and they have been waiting a long time for them. I know that this junior certificate was different from the 2019 one, with all of the difficulty with Covid-19. As I always say in situations like this, I offer my congratulations to all who did well. I say to those who may perhaps be disappointed, they should not let it get to them too much. There is a great deal of reform going on in education at the moment, including in the exams. I am a great believer in the introduction of more practical and less written work but one also needs some written work. That is the way the system is moving because some students suffer enormous pressure in exams and just cannot cope with them, which we should always take into account. Today, then, is the junior certificate results day and it was the intermediate certificate during my day. I know I am showing my age now. It is a good exam, I suppose, in that it provides some training for the leaving certificate examination, which is all I would say to people about it. One has to complete one’s exam papers within a certain time and to apply oneself to it. Apart from that, I would not be overexcited if one has not done that well today.

I also refer to the Oireachtas Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, which met yesterday and to the comments of the Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, where he asked the Departments of Education and of Health to bring in a new model for dealing with mental health issues. He claims that if this new model was brought in, it would eliminate the waiting list in child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. Everybody, irrespective of what side of the House a Member sits, would think that that is a fantastic idea. We all wrestle with this every week in politics, we are all concerned, and we were all upset. Dr. Muldoon is talking about a model that has been put in place in Dorset in England where four mental health professionals deal with approximately 2,000 students in the schools. We should ask the Departments of Education and of Health to follow up on that matter and it is crucial that they do. We all know the strains, the anxieties and the pressures that are on people at present and we must do everything within our power to help those people. I am calling today, and I am sure everybody will agree with me, that we ask the Departments of Education and of Health to follow up on that and to give their support to that particular scheme.

Finally, I congratulate a Roscommon lady, Sharon Donoghue, who has become the patient advocacy and liaison service, PALS, co-ordinator - my colleague from Galway would probably know about this - at Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe. As the patients’ advocacy and liaison service co-ordinator, she will be helping patients, their families and carers to deal with any issues or problems which arise. It is a very good appointment and I wish her well.

I too want to stand with Aimee Foley, along with my colleagues here. She is a very brave woman and I hope that we can see something good come out of this.

Yesterday, I spoke about the death of Caitríona Lucas in County Clare and the appalling fact that that woman’s family has been waiting six years for an inquest, which is completely unacceptable. Evidence has now come to me which suggests that the lifejackets in use in the Coast Guard at that time were faulty. There is documentary evidence that the faults in the lifejackets had been reported from 2015, where they failed miserably to turn a person on his or her back.

Furthermore, there is a suggestion that the lifejacket which Ms Lucas was wearing was removed from the scene and has not been seen since. The Health and Safety Authority is the appropriate authority to investigate this and I believe it must move immediately to establish what reports were made from 2015 to 2018, and precisely who reported them. I am aware of tests that were done in Crosshaven, Cork, in Kerry, in Mayo and in Donegal, and in all cases the lifejacket failed or injured the wearer of the lifejacket by inflating so violently or only inflated on one side. I have the documentary evidence. The Health and Safety Authority should have the documentary evidence and if it is true that the lifejacket was faulty and that the one Ms Lucas was wearing turned her on her face rather than on her back, then I believe there is a case for criminal negligence on somebody’s part. A woman has lost her life, a family have lost a mother, and we are six years waiting for an inquest. The evidence of what happened on that day must be brought to the inquest. Somebody, somewhere has to start answering questions very quickly. I ask the Leader’s office to engage with the Health and Safety Authority to have this matter investigated.

In my remaining few seconds of speaking time, I note there has been a great deal of talk about unfortunate asylum seekers who arrive in this country through Dublin Airport without a passport. It is my understanding that one cannot board an aircraft without a passport. If someone arrives in Dublin Airport from an aircraft without a passport then, I believe, they are trying to dupe the system and should be returned to the country of origin, to wherever the aircraft took off from. This country has open arms for those who seek asylum but those who try to dupe the system should not be facilitated in any way. I thank the Acting Chairman.