The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding the Order of Business, to be taken on the conclusion of the Order of Business, without debate; No. 2, motion regarding the restoration of Bills to the Order Paper, to be taken on conclusion of No. 1, without debate; and No. 3, the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Accidents) Bill 2024 - Second Stage, to be taken at 5.15 p.m., with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes, all other Senators not to exceed five minutes, and time may be shared, with the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate.

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. I congratulate Brigadier General Rossa Mulcahy, a Newbridge and County Kildare native, who is to be appointed Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces on 1 June when Lieutenant General Seán Clancy will be going to chair the European Union military committee. I know Rossa very well. He is a very fine person. There are huge challenges ahead of both gentlemen, and I wish them well.

Yesterday was World Wildlife Day. I want to give a shout-out to Dan Donoher, who has done incredible work in setting up Kildare Wildlife Rescue, a sanctuary for wildlife on Grey Abbey Road. While it is based in Kildare, the sanctuary actually has a national brief and is unique in that it looks after wildlife only. I know Senator Noonan, in a former life, visited it-----

I did indeed.

-----and was very impressed with what he saw. It is important that we do what we can to protect our biodiversity, which includes our wild animals, birds and plants.

I wish our Special Olympics athletes well. They are flying out to Turin on Friday next for the Special Olympics World Winter Games. There are 14 athletes competing and there is a full team of 23, including managers and coaches. I understand that 80 family members are travelling with them, and 50 volunteers. Our 14 athletes are competing in floorball and Alpine skiing, as well as taking part in the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes programme and Global Youth Leadership Summit. A huge congratulations to those 14 individuals who trained really hard to secure their places. They are shining examples of perseverance and determination. I will also give a shout-out to the 260 clubs around the island of Ireland and those who participated but just did not qualify on this occasion. I know that we all wish them well.

I also want to mention section 39 workers. As we know, where the HSE has outsourced its responsibilities to voluntary groups, they hire their own staff to do the same work. These are section 39 workers. They are not public servants and do not receive public service pensions. While historically they got the same pay, after pay was cut during the recession it was not restored to section 39 workers.

There are thousands of people working in section 39 organisations. A pay agreement was struck at the WRC in October 2023, which has not been honoured. Most of these people do really important work in the areas of health, social care and disability. It is really important they are supported and I certainly want to stand with them and I urge the Government to ensure that this pay parity is reached, agreed to and implemented.