Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach and I join with him and others in welcoming the retired members of the Defence Forces to Leinster House today with Deputy Cathal Berry. I hope that they enjoy their day.

In no uncertain terms, I also want to condemn the constant barrage of abuse against the Taoiseach and the threats to him and his family.

Hear, hear.

One can have disagreements with the Taoiseach on policy, or whatever else, but those people who are threatening him and his family in such a callous way should be called out and condemned. It is no way for any citizen of this country to treat another citizen of this country and I totally condemn it, as I am sure all Members would join me in that. We have all suffered from this from time to time in our lives, including myself. I am not worried about myself, and I am sure the Taoiseach is not worried about himself, but I am sure he is worried for his wife and children. We must always remember that it is our families who suffer in situations like this.

I congratulate the Deputy Leader on his appointment. I was not aware of it. I want to bring something to his attention and perhaps seek his advice on how we might go about this following matter.

Several buildings that used to be Garda houses are vacant up and down the country. Of course, these are the property of the OPW and the State. It is horrific to see many of these houses vacant. I have seen one in Strokestown and another in Taghmaconnell. Like many Members of this House, I constantly have members of An Garda Síochána who are travelling long distances to work coming to me. They would be more than willing to rent those houses if they were to be made available. Obviously, repairs would have to be done to some of the houses, while others are in quite a good state.

Given there seems to be a great deal of difficulty with gardaí being able to get transfers closer to home now because it is a slow process due to the vacancies not being there, would it not make a great deal of sense if the journeys could be shortened for gardaí by enabling them to take up residence in these vacant houses? I am seeking advice on how we might handle this matter and talk to the OPW rather than posing a question. As I said, there are several houses in this category and they would be a real benefit to gardaí concerned and their families. We should follow up on this potential and see if it may be possible to make it work for families.

I congratulate the Deputy Leader and wish him all the best. I look forward to working with him in future. We have worked well together in the past and he will do a fantastic job as Deputy Leader.

I am continually raising the matter of University Hospital Limerick, but today I wish to highlight it in a good way because of the new virtual ward and remote patient-monitoring service launched there. Doccla and the HSE have partnered in this endeavour to allow hospital-led treatment for patients at home. The first two wards are to be launched shortly. This initiative will provide acute care, monitoring, and treatment via remote healthcare as an alternative to traditional inpatient care. This development is most welcome. Many changes have happened in UHL recently and the institution is moving forward in a positive light.

I was over at the launch today of the pre-budget submission of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. One thing highlighted was the shortage of specialist nurses in hospitals. They can help to keep people at home because they can give advice over the phone regarding any issues or assure family members in cases where there may be issues around medication. These nurses are trained specialists, and while they are in some hospitals in Ireland, they are not in all. They need to be put in each of the CHO areas. It is an issue the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, should come to the Chamber to discuss because it is extremely important. There is not a family in Ireland that has not had a member or close friend impacted by Alzheimer's or dementia.

Ar dtús, déanaim comhghairdeas le mo chara agus mo chomhghleacaí, an Seanadóir Kyne. Go n-éirí leis lena dhualgas nua.

I was also extremely glad Deputy Fergus O'Dowd had his friends and former classmates from the Sharman Crawford Street technical institute in the House. In the group was my friend from my own home parish, Mattie Kilroy, and his wife Kathleen. Mattie Kilroy is one of those men who really deserves great commendation for being one of those people who greatly contribute to the social capital in our community. This ranges from his work as an educator over the years to being very well known in GAA circles and being responsible for the north-east Galway news in The Connacht Tribune. He is just one of those great community people. I am delighted to see Mattie and Kathleen here today.

I will ask my colleagues three simple questions. Should we be concerned about children accessing pornography and the extent to which it is going on now online? Do we think it is harming children and our society as a result? If we do think this is a problem and is harmful, should we be doing something about it? I propose to introduce a Private Member's Bill very soon, and I hope I will get time for it in this House before the recess, on age verification for access to pornography. This would place an obligation on Internet service providers and app store services to ensure that persons under 18 shall not be able to access pornography online. It would require those web controllers and app store providers putting up such material to require users to go through an age verification process, one that can be outsourced to relevant third parties according to a list the Minister could approve for this purpose. There would, of course, be a defence where someone else has facilitated the circumventing of the age verification process. The proposed legislation would also provide for the secure storage of age verification data for five years and that this would only be accessible when it is needed for legal proceedings.

It is quite remarkable that the likes of Pornhub, which has been described as the YouTube of the pornography industry, opposed age verification laws in many states in the US. What is also remarkable is that these age verification laws have been highly effective and have attracted strong, non-partisan support from Democrats and Republicans. I think it is time we did something like that here. I have circulated my proposal to my colleagues in the Seanad. I would be grateful if they would all look at it. If we could come to a united perspective on this matter, I think we could do the young people of our society a whole lot of good.

Comhghairdeas to Senator Kyne as well on his new post as Deputy Leader of the House and leader of the Fine Gael group. I pay tribute to him because he has been involved so much in guiding and mentoring many of us, especially when we were new here way back. It seems a long time ago now when we first came in as new Senators. I also congratulate Senator Regina Doherty, who is our new MEP. She has done fantastically well and will now be working for us representing Ireland, along with our other MEPs, Nina Carberry, Maria Walsh and Seán Kelly. They will all be working for us on the Fine Gael side in Europe.

I mention the ETB sector as well, which held a meeting in Buswells Hotel yesterday. I ask the Deputy Leader to highlight some of the key asks from this sector. One concerned deputy principals in post-primary ETBs. As the spokesperson on education for Fine Gael in the Seanad, I highlight the need to provide supports to the ETBs to deliver the type of education we want to see at the post-primary level and in further education as well, which is so crucial. We are promoting apprenticeships and seeing the roll-out in respect of TUS in Athlone and ATU in Galway. These institutions are working to deliver strong apprenticeship programmes. We need to examine how we are supporting people of all ages who live in our towns. I refer to being able to roll out colleges of further education in our smaller towns. We are seeing these campuses, in the context of the new TUS locations, now being rolled out to our smaller towns. I guess that this is one of the key things in this context.

Additionally, I have been and am engaging with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy O'Donovan, around the need to have an apprenticeship centre in Roscommon town. We lack this in terms of the Galway and Roscommon ETB. I wish the councillors now joining the ETB well. After the local elections, they are now going to be representing their areas and fighting for this as well.