Two weeks ago the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste talked about transgender education in primary schools. I come from a generation, as do quite a number of others here, where we hardly got any sex education in secondary school, so we have come quite a long way. I think that the Seanad would be a good forum for the Minister for Education to come and discuss her plans. It would be a nice open forum for people to see what she is proposing. It would be good to have a look at her proposals and what she intends to do in primary schools regarding this issue.

I want to raise the issue of the hospital in Limerick where there are more than 100 people on trolleys today. The new CEO of the HSE was before the health committee this morning. It was enlightening to hear him confirming that he intends to make changes. He has admitted that in many locations the HSE is very top-heavy and that changes need to be made. It sounds like he is going to hit the ground running from his contribution at the health committee today. That does not resolve the issue of the more than 100 people on trolleys in Limerick today. I have asked for this several times and it still has not happened. I would like the Minister to come before the House to have a debate regarding health issues and I would ask for Members' support regarding this matter.

I agree with Senator Murphy's call for an examination of crime and security. I watched the "Prime Time" episode last night and Mr. Shane Gleeson from Limerick who recounted being threatened with a broken wine bottle in his shop. People have also been threatened with needles. It is not just the people profiled in the programme, many other businesses right across the country are facing problems. Recently I spoke to a charity which has meetings late at night. School-age children were intimidating the people as they were leaving the meeting. This is simply not acceptable and parents need to take more responsibility. We need to have a discussion regarding this issue.

I second Senator Gavan's amendment to the Order Paper. I ask for an update from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, on the timing of a referendum on water ownership. Today is World Water Day and the trade union umbrella group, Keep Water Public, was outside Leinster House. I hope Members got out to meet them and to show their support for a referendum on keeping the ownership of water in public hands.

There is a commitment to hold a referendum on this issue. In November there will be a referendum on Article 41.2 of the Constitution and the reference to women's place in the home. It would make a lot of sense to have a referendum on water ownership at the same time. Not only would it reduce the cost of holding a referendum, it would also increase the turnout because we know that water is a major issue for the public. We have seen the largest rallies in the history of the State take place on this issue. One of the key concerns of people was around the non-privatisation of our water supply.

A referendum would safeguard public ownership of water for future generations. Equally, trade unions are supportive of this because our workforce in water services consists of highly-skilled, well-trained and well-qualified people. Why would they move from the local authorities to Irish Water if there is a potential for it to be privatised? They have been burned by the privatisation of the waste sector and the bin companies. When the timeframe in respect of the transfer of undertakings, TUPE, regulations ended, they saw an impact on their working conditions and consequently, we need that referendum to protect that skilled workforce. We need only look across the water to what happened in Britain when Margaret Thatcher privatised water. We see the heavy borrowing that households must pay for on their bills. We see large salaries for the top cats and very little tax being paid by those companies. I would like an update on when we will get the referendum on public ownership of water.

I join my colleague, Senator Murphy, in expressing concern around what is happening to our retail workers. Conor McMorrow prepared an excellent package for the "Prime Time" programme last night that showed some horrors, including the physical and verbal attacks faced by those who work in shops and service stations. I know this from talking to owners of convenience stores but also to people working in them around the country. It is just not acceptable and we need to toughen legislation in this space. We should look at a Scottish law, namely, the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021. The Act provides for specific offences with regard to attacks on retail workers, especially when it comes to their having to enforce age-related rules. In light of this, I ask that we facilitate a debate around how we protect those workers.

I also echo Senator Hoey's concerns about the passage of legislation in Uganda that makes being LGBT a criminal offence and mandates the death penalty for a person who describes themselves as such or engages in any consensual same-sex sexual activity. This is not acceptable. It is not good enough that we just protest about the matter. We have an embassy in Kampala. I ask the Deputy Leader to write to our ambassador there on the House's behalf to express our concerns. I ask that she also write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, but the time has come for us to start to debate whether some of our overseas development aid should be linked to ensuring human rights are properly protected. I ask the Deputy Leader to regard both matters as priorities.

Having just come back from Africa, I can tell Senators Hoey and Byrne that Irish Aid is very much working towards making Africa a more equal and inclusive society. I met a number of front-line defenders who work with many different groups, including LGBT groups, in Africa. I wanted to say that as well.

Senator Keogan is next.