I join others in expressing our sympathy on the sad passing of Senator Dolan's father.

On Tuesday of last week a member of NATO and of the Council of Europe carried out a targeted assassination of local political leaders in a neighbouring state as they were carrying out their public duties. The murderer was Türkiye, the people killed were in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, and the world took no notice. You would not have read about it anywhere. The United States issued one of their usual statements urging all parties to de-escalate, as though there was some equivalence between being a council leader and murdering one. When Türkiye breaches international mores, no one wants to know, especially if the victims hold few cards in the world of realpolitik. What I found truly shocking was that last week's attack brought to 48 the number of people in north and east Syria murdered by Turkish drones since the beginning of this year, and a further 38 have been wounded. Thirteen of those killed were civilians. The rest were soldiers who had defended their land and the world against ISIS. None was a threat to Türkiye. Civilian leaders have been specifically targeted. The drone attack last week hit a car carrying two female leaders of a local council of Qamişlo canton. Those are the women who were murdered last week.

I raise the issue because we need a debate on Türkiye for a whole host of reasons. The abuse of human rights and the calculated murder regime there in respect of the Kurdish people should not be acceptable to any of us. I know, a Chathaoirligh, that you have a good tradition of inviting ambassadors in during their national days, and I think it is something we all welcome, but I would strongly object to inviting Türkiye in for a whole host of reasons that I will not have time to go into. Suffice it to say there is something very wrong in the world when we see 38 people murdered and hear not a word about it. This is a state that claims to believe in human rights. I met representatives of the state last week on the Council of Europe. There is something desperately wrong going on, we need to draw attention to it, and I think we could do so via a debate in this Chamber.

On behalf of myself and all of us, I extend our sympathies to the family of the late Mr. Anthony Dolan of Ballinasloe, father of our colleague and friend, Aisling. To Mrs. Teresa Dolan and to Brian, Darragh and David we send our sympathies.

I now call on the Deputy Leader to reply to the debate on the Order of Business.

I extend my sympathies as well to Aisling and her family on the very sad passing of her daddy.

As to what Senator Gavan brought up this morning, he is right: I definitely do not know anything about it, and maybe most other people in this Chamber do not know anything about it. That is not good enough, so I will ask not only for the debate but also for a statement from the Minister for Foreign Affairs to see what the reaction is.

I thank the Deputy Leader.

I am always honest with the Senator when he brings things up here. I know very little about the conflict between Türkiye and Syria, other than that there are 3.5 million refugees from Syria in Türkiye. It just does not make any sense. I will get the Senator the statement and will certainly ask for the debate, although maybe not between now and the end of next week. That is no problem. I thank the Senator for raising that.

Senator Maria Byrne brought up the kind of sneaky campaign that has gone on subliminally or under the radar by our banks and probably much of society, particularly retail as well, to get rid of cash. It is sad that most of us have young people in our lives who would not even dream of having a fiver in their pocket. My daughter works in a restaurant and when she comes home with her tips, she gives them to me and I have to Revolut her the money because she does not want cash. It will organically happen as older people, who are the mainstay of those using cash, move on in their lives. I do not know what the rush is but we have to protect it, in the absence of moral behaviour, on behalf of the people who need our retail and banking sector. I thank the Senator for raising that and I will bring it up with the Minister for Finance.

Senators Boylan, Seery Kearney and Ó Donnghaile all rightly and proudly recognised the positive tourist accolade bestowed on Kilmainham Gaol. All of us know what a fantastic facility it is. I used to bring my kids on their communion day. It became a ritual in our house to go on communion day. It is a wonderful facility steeped deep in rich history. Senator Ó Donnghaile is right that we have many beautiful buildings with deep history in this country that are not recognised. The passionate guides who work there bring to life the tour when people go around that has impacted so well on our tourists. Long may it last. I continue to wish them well. I will also ask the Leader to send a letter congratulating the board on behalf of all of us as well as the Cathaoirleach.

Senator Boylan raised something very serious and I will bring it up with the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW. I ask her, based on the report she has, who would be responsible for pressing those charges that the drafter of the report suggested?

The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, as it is the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Okay. I will bring it to his attention and come back to the Senator with a response. I thank her for raising that.

Senator Keogan asked for a debate on the proposed use of body cams and the purchase of same by An Garda Síochána when the legislation has not even been drafted yet. I will see if I can get a response for her to see if we can do that.

Senator Seery Kearney spoke about what I can only describe as an absolutely astonishing reveal yesterday by, for anybody who was not in the audiovisual room, the Justice for Wards presentation that we were given by a lovely lady called Mary Farrell and her colleague, Joe. It was absolutely astonishing. This business – this game – that we are all in never ceases to amaze me. Things absolutely rock you that you just cannot believe could be true, and then they are. For what it is worth, if people do not know, could they please have a look at the Justice for Wards campaign? Some €2 billion of wards’ money is being managed by the Courts Service. The risk profile of the investments that it made over the years is absolutely astounding. There are losses of hundreds of millions of euro. On behalf of young people like the young man who Joe spoke about yesterday, his grandson, who was only six years old when he had a near-fatal accident that resulted in horrific injuries and needs for him for the rest of his life, the mismanagement of that poor boy’s fund is nothing short of scandalous. Yet, nobody seems to bear responsibility for it. The Courts Service does not want to have anything to do with it nor does the High Court president. It is astonishing. If anybody could lend any help to that campaign, it would be appreciated and worthwhile to try to get to the bottom of it.

Senators Blaney, Cummins and O’Loughlin all raised the issue of septic tanks. A report yesterday was shocking insofar as how many failed the tests but also how many are not on the register. It would be worthwhile if the Minister took the request seriously to allow people to re-register, particularly those who purchased their houses after 2013. Let us have a look at that.

Senator Blaney also looked for a debate on the new policing structures, particularly the three county models that, effectively, in his opinion, will downgrade services to many of our counties on the west coast.

Senator Mullen asked me to allow him to introduce No. 15 this morning and it is no problem to take that today. It is topical and timely. The Senator was very quick off the mark; this is a very speedy response. Well done, as it is something that has to be attacked.

Senator Cummins also spoke about cost rental housing, looking for clarity on changes that will be made to the scheme between now and the summer recess so that we all have them. I will ask for that and come back to him.

Senator O’Loughlin opened today with the meeting of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters this morning and the presentation given on behalf of the deaf community. She highlighted the need for research into the deaf experience, particularly of children in primary and secondary school, so that we can then make policy-informed choices as opposed to what she said is no choices. Not only is deafness an invisible disability, she also claimed that it is invisible in policy decision-making. That is not a good thing, so we will have to change that.

Just before we finish, I would like colleagues to join with me for one minute’s silence please so that we in Seanad Éireann reaffirm our support for Ukraine following the recent bombing of the dam near the town of Nova Kakhovka.