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Seanad
‹ An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

Order of Business

Summary

The Order of Business is proposed, including Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024 and statements on the national social enterprise policy. Members welcome the Cypriot ambassador and raise Jennie Poole, the companion pass and older people, before substantive issues begin.

I join the Cathaoirleach in welcoming the ambassador. We wish him well for Cyprus's national day.

The Order of Business is No. 1, Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024 - Committee Stage (resumed), to be taken at 1.30 p.m. and to adjourn at 4 p.m., if not previously concluded; No. 2, statements on the national social enterprise policy, Trading for Impact, to be taken at 4 p.m. and to conclude at 5.30 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the time allocated for the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed seven minutes each, all other Senators not to exceed four minutes each, time may be shared, and the Minister to be given not less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; and No. 50, motion 2, Private Members' business, motion regarding agriculture from the Fine Gael Senators, to be taken at 5.30 p.m., with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours.

Comment on this

I add my voice of formal welcome on the behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party to the ambassador from Cyprus. It was lovely to meet him earlier. I wish all Cypriots living in Ireland a good and happy independence day.

Jennie Poole would have been 29 today. She should have been celebrating her birthday with her two young children, her parents and her family. Sadly, as we know, she was murdered by a former partner in April 2021. Her brother, Jason, has been campaigning tirelessly for the establishment of a domestic register to try to avoid similar situations where a partner has previous convictions for domestic abuse. I am privileged to have worked with Jason for the past two or three years on the establishment of the register. I have also worked in the past eight months with the Minister for justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan. I am pleased to say that we expect legislation to come before Cabinet in the next few weeks. Jason's work is not in vain and we will soon enact Jennie's law. I am thinking of all the Poole family today, Jennie's birthday.

Many Members of the House have met Chloe Ray, who works with me and is an invaluable staff member. She told me yesterday about her cousin, who passed away tragically after being electrocuted while holding a charging mobile phone in the bath. Her family are absolutely devastated. Three young children will now grow up without their mother because of something that was, in truth, preventable. Ms Leah O'Gorman, the daughter of the deceased, has been in touch. She has written to a number of us about what we could and should do to try to prevent a similar situation. It is not a story of private grief but a matter of public safety, as was mentioned at the recent inquest. Many people do not realise the extreme danger of using a phone near water while it is charging. We carry these devices, which we know to be waterproof, everywhere. When we have a spare moment, we often take out our devices and check them. They are sold without clear or prominent warnings about this risk. We have visible safety warnings on kettles, hairdryers and many other household appliances. Phones, which we rely on for everything from work to family life, do not come with warnings. Please let us now allow this mother's death be in vain. We need to ensure there are mandatory warnings on all our phones. We also need a public awareness campaign so that everybody, including children and teenagers, understand the risk. This tragedy was a wake-up call. We need more awareness. We need a debate on that topic.

The last item I will raise relates to HRT, which, thankfully, women in this country can now receive free of charge. That at least should be the case. I listened to Rebecca from Kildare recently. Due to cancer treatment, she went through an early menopause. The normal HRT medicine is not appropriate for her. She needs a different type of HRT drug, namely, Veozah. It is not on the scheme, so Rebecca must pay €75 per month for it. This is absolute discrimination. We should have a debate with the Minister for Health with a view to ensuring that every woman is able to avail of HRT medicine and not just the ones that are listed on the drugs scheme.

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I would like to be associated with the welcome to the ambassador who was here a few minutes ago. I wish him a happy national day.

I rise to welcome the fact that over 18,000 people will be in receipt of the companion pass, effective from today. That will help. It will allow people to bring a companion with them when they travel by train or bus. It helps to address the issue of loneliness. Today is the International Day of Older Persons. I yesterday attended an event in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, where a group of women's organisations came together to discuss things like women's sheds. It was about addressing loneliness and working together to support one another.

I met a lady there called Faith who is the national ambassador for older people. I listened and discovered how she looks at things older people do, from women's sheds to the Irish Countrywomen's Association to different organisations working together and supporting each another. It certainly was a very positive gathering yesterday in Enniskerry.

The other issue is that a report was launched that shows that Limerick has one of the highest rates of derelict commercial buildings of all the cities in Ireland. We have a task force in Dublin and one in Cork. As the driver of the mid-west, Limerick needs a task force as well. I would like the Minister with responsibility for employment to come in and have a discussion on how we can help cities to drive regions in terms of economic development. To do that, we need to have a proactive task force and work with the local authority and different businesses.

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