I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his organisation of Bród 93/23 last night. It was very impressive. There is a lot of feedback from some of the participants this morning. I was in the UK but want to acknowledge the significance of the Cathaoirleach's leadership in this area. When he was elected Cathaoirleach, he gave a commitment that equality, gay rights and so forth would be at the centre of his platform. True to his word, he has been a strong advocate for all of that and much more. I want to acknowledge that.

I spent the past two days in England at the invitation of Euroforest Ireland, which is a forestry organisation that is very active in Ireland and in the UK. It is clear from site visits yesterday, with both public and private forestry, and from visits to various forestry projects that there is a crisis in Britain but we also have a crisis here. It is clear from other Irish people on that trip that Irish forestry is in crisis. We have ash dieback all over the place. It is a national disaster in the UK. There are crews all over the place. We have to address it. I would like a debate on forestry with a specific focus on ash dieback and the challenges in terms of insurance.

I wish to compliment the Minister of State, Senator Pippa Hackett. For two years I have been calling for a meeting with the Social Economic Environmental Forestry Association, SEEFA. She has finally agreed to meet them at 12 noon today in Agriculture House. It has been a long battle to try to get private forestry stakeholders to the table. I will continue to advocate strongly for a level playing pitch for Coillte, State forestry projects and the private forestry sector, which makes a huge contribution and in which many of our pension plans are involved. We need a balanced debate about public and private forestry. We need a focused debate on the challenges around ash dieback and how we are going to deal with them. I ask that very early in the new year, the Leader might facilitate that.

I welcome the announcement today of an additional €10 million from the large-scale sports infrastructure fund for the redevelopment of the Sportsground in Galway, which is the home of Connacht Rugby. The first announcement came in January 2020 when €10 million was granted as part of the first phase of what was a €20 million project. There was some disappointment at the time that only - I say that cautiously - €10 million was offered. They needed €20 million. When I served as Government Chief Whip under An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, I was delighted that we received a letter of comfort for the additional €10 million. I am delighted that those funds have come through today and that this announcement has been made. This investment by the State is hugely important in terms of sports facilities. Connacht Rugby deserves the best. It deserves to have facilities that are as good as anywhere else in the country. It fought for its survival a number of years ago when there were moves to disband it and to focus elsewhere. The redevelopment now is great to see. They started with the laying of the new pitch as the first phase. There are plans for a new training centre and the redevelopment of the Clan stand. This investment is hugely important for the economy of Galway city because thousands of people come into the heart of the city on match days. It is within walking distance of Ceannt Station, which is also to be redeveloped. This is a wonderful news story for Galway and for the region. Connacht Rugby's patrons come from all over Connacht. It is great news for Galway. It is important that the State continues to invest in sporting facilities throughout the country. It is important for the sports themselves but it is also a huge boost for the economy. It inspires the next generation of youngsters - boys and girls - to go out and play their sports, such as rugby, as in this case, Gaelic games and soccer, etc. This is a great news story for Galway and the west.

Last week I met with a delegation from the Irish Federation of University Teachers. They gave a powerful presentation. I think it was organised by our colleagues in the Labour Party. I was shocked by what they told us. I always assumed that a career in academia would be a pretty good way to make a living. Many of us would have thought that if our kids could end up there, that would be a good space to work. They did an extensive survey which revealed that 36% - more than one in three - of those employed in the sector consider themselves precariously employed. A significant proportion, 32%, of academic roles, particularly in teaching and research, are occupied by individuals who consider themselves precariously employed. Only 15% of researchers - one in ten, in effect - are on permanent contracts and 8% of respondents indicated they did not have a written contract of employment. Imagine that - they do not have a written contract of employment. The sector is in ribbons in terms of workers' rights. Perhaps the most shocking thing they told us was that collective bargaining does not happen.

For the university sector to be let go to this degree is an absolute disaster. Of course as usual people are voting with their feet. They are leaving. Some of our best academics are now going abroad. They are going to Europe, the US and so forth because they actually cannot get a permanent job here. The damage is not just to the university sector, and not just to the teaching skills. It is damage to the future education of all our children. This needs an urgent debate. I call for that debate as early as we can in the new year.

We need to address this issue and listen to the trade union involved, which does excellent representation for these people. How can it be acceptable, when we have fully funded State education, that these organisations are not talking to the union because there is no engagement in collective bargaining with the union? They are behaving in a cavalier manner by not giving people decent contracts of employment. In this day and age that is entirely unacceptable.

There was a welcome auction on Friday and on Monday of about €500,000 worth of goods that have been seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB. Rolex watches, Louis Vuitton bags and other assets were seized from some of the highest criminals in the country. CAB is an organisation set up by Fine Gael to attack criminal organisations and such people as the former Sinn Féin councillor, Jonathan Dowdall. When we talk about Fine Gael supporting stronger, safer communities, this is exactly what we mean. We are going right into the heart of criminal organisations and hitting them where it hurts. The really important thing about that online sale on Friday and Monday is the €500,000 that has been raised, funding which goes back into the Exchequer.

That funding will be put back into communities that have been affected heavily by organised crime. That €0.5 million comes on the back of €3 million that has already been put into 30 communities around the country to support and help them because they have been impacted negatively by some of the worst criminals we have in this country. I welcome and support that.

A number of people have spoken about the announcement of funding for sports clubs today. Tipperary got an extra €200,000 for the sports campus in Thurles, which means that around €750,000 will be put into the design project, which is very important and must be welcomed.