Before I call the Leader to outline the business of the day, I welcome the students from Moyle Park College in Clondalkin. They are all very welcome to Leinster House. I hope they have a very good visit and a wonderful day in the Houses of the Oireachtas. I thank them for being here. I call the Leader to outline the Order of Business.

I thank the Cathaoirleach. The Order of Business is No. 1, Digital Services Bill 2023 – Second Stage, to be taken at 12.45 p.m. and to conclude at 2.45 p.m., 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 ten minutes, and time may be shared, all other Senators not to exceed five minutes and the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; No. 2, Criminal Justice (Engagement of Children in Criminal Activity) Bill 2023 – Second Stage, to be taken at 3 p.m. and to conclude at 5 p.m., 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 ten minutes, and time may be shared, all other Senators not to exceed five minutes and the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; and No. 128(7), Private Member's business, motion regarding family carers, to be taken at 5 p.m., with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours.

I welcome the President of the Tynwald, which is the parliament of the Isle of Man, the Honourable Laurence Skelly, to our Distinguished Visitors Gallery. He is in Ireland with a delegation from yesterday until tomorrow. The visit is to engage with Oireachtas committees around the areas of reporting, media, tourism, entrepreneurship and transport. It is wonderful that our friends are here from the Isle of Man. Mr. Skelly was here as recently as last summer with the Ceann Comhairle and me at the Speakers of the Isles conference. There is a continuing link between us and the Tynwald. We are delighted to have all the members of the delegation here today and we wish them a very fruitful and positive engagement. We thank them for the friendship they have bestowed on and shared with all of us here in the Oireachtas. Mr. Skelly is very welcome indeed. I call Senator O'Loughlin.

I add my voice in welcoming our guests from Moyle Park College and the Isle of Man. My home village of Rathangan hosted the Isle of Man delegation for the Special Olympics held in Ireland in 2003. We built up a very strong relationship, so the delegation is incredibly welcome.

I welcome the survey published yesterday on the best towns in the country to live in. Two towns in County Mayo, Ballina and Castlebar, featured, as well as Longford. Newbridge, where I live, was identified as the safest town in Ireland. It is a great town to live in and it is great to see it recognised. I thank the Garda for keeping us safe.

I wish to raise a few issues, mainly concerning different forms of transport, including on the water and also cycling. Cycle Right is the national standard for cycle training. It provides practical cycle safety and skills training for children and is carried out in some schools. I only came across it a few months ago in Scoil Na Naomh Uilig in Newbridge. This is a fantastic programme that shows children how to cycle safely to and from school, as well as in their own leisure time. It is supported by the Department of Transport and the Road Safety Authority, RSA. There is, though, an issue with funding in the particular school I was working with on this programme. Unfortunately, it cannot access any funding from Kildare County Council to make it available free of charge to children. This is an extremely important scheme and we should look at it from the perspective of education and transport. I would like the Leader's support in asking that this programme be rolled out to all schools around the country because it is important.

Turning to waterways, I had the opportunity on Monday to visit a barge in Robertstown. County Kildare has two canals passing through it, the Royal Canal and the Grand Canal. Barges were very much a feature of the day when all goods were carried in that fashion. An extremely innovative approach has been taken in Robertstown. The village does not have a community centre, so the community there has restored the barge and it is now serving as the Robertstown community centre. In fact, ukulele classes are held there on a Monday night. The mayor of County Kildare, Daragh Fitzpatrick, held the annual general meeting of Kildare County Council there during the summer as well. It is wonderful work and thanks are owed to Peter Dunne who spearheaded the endeavour. This shows what we can do.

There is also a barge in Athy in County Kildare and this was used by the local community for functions, events and as a tourism project to link in with the Ernest Shackleton Museum. There is concern now that this is not going to happen any longer. We must, therefore, ensure that funding is put in place to support that barge, as well as the blueway and the greenway. We have an opportunity in Rathangan in this regard. The blueway is fantastic. I had the Minister of State down to visit recently. We have plans to put a pedestrian bridge in place, but there is a shortfall in the required funding of €3.5 million. It is vitally needed. We must get this national funding to deliver the project.

I agree with and support the Order of Business for today. I commend Fine Gael, in particular, on its Private Member's motion on family carers. It will be an interesting debate, an active and robust one. I note that my colleague, Senator Tom Clonan, has submitted amendments to the motion, on which I will be speaking.

I hope there will be good attendance in this House for what is a very important matter. I thank Fine Gael for using its Private Members’ time. I look forward to engaging on that later.

Yesterday, I raised the issue of vets. I singled out Rachel Brown, the newly elected president of the Veterinary Council who hails from Ballina in the Leader’s lovely County Mayo. I wish to follow on from that because as a result of it, I received a number of calls about the need to escalate the focus on a new veterinary faculty for Ireland. We know there is enormous pressure for people wanting to train to be vets in Ireland and we know there are more Irish veterinary students in Poland and Hungary than in Ireland. We clearly have an issue with UCD being the only veterinary school in the country, with demand for 85 first year undergraduate places far outstretching supply. We have a challenge and an issue. We also know from statistics provided by UCD that in 2022, there were 581 applications for the course, so there was keen competition for it. The CAO points are in excess of 600. That is enormous. There is a lack of places at graduate entry level and we need to address that. The lack of student places is forcing many students abroad. It is not by choice but they are keen to become veterinary surgeons.

There is huge pressure by the vets to establish a faculty in Munster and I can understand why. I would love to see another faculty in the south, or certainly up near Northern Ireland. I think there are perhaps synergies with Queens University for another faculty of veterinary medicine on the island of Ireland. The Veterinary Council has expressed concerns about the shortage of vets, particularly for large farm animals.

I wish to renew a call for another area, namely, modular, practical, hands-on and academic learning for farm technicians. There is a real opportunity for farm technicians. We do not need veterinary surgeons doing everything. We know with large animal practice that many people who do not or cannot make the grade for various reasons would like to pursue a new, improved syllabus for the term “veterinary technicians”. I call for this again. Clearly, there is a need.

I think the Higher Education Authority has overall responsibility for this area. I ask that the Leader arrange for the Minister, Deputy Harris, or the appropriate Minister responsible for this area to come and have a short debate setting out the Government plans for a new veterinary faculty in Ireland.