I add my voice to the welcome for Councillor Gary Prior. It is wonderful to see Gary and his guest Seán. This is the people's Parliament, and it is very important that we have our public representatives and, of course, citizens of the country coming to Leinster House to see how we do our business.

There are a number of issues I wish to raise. First, it is really good to see a satisfactory outcome for those who have been on hunger strike outside the gates of this building. We are all quick to criticise when things are not happening and I know every single person here voiced their opinion on it. We all wanted to see a resolution and it is good to see that has happened. As Georgina Dunlevy, who emailed all of us last night, said, it was really good to see it getting across the line so that those who have been impacted, the survivors, can begin the healing process. I acknowledge that and it is important to do so.

An issue I also wish to raise relates to childminders.

I read an article this morning about a lady who lives in Newbridge - I do not want to use her name as I do not have permission at this point to use it - who spoke about being a childminder in the town. We all need childminders and know that childcare is one of the biggest issues that we, in government, have to support. It is quite complex for those who are working to ensure they have arrangements in place. There are quite a number of childcare facilities and a lot of people also use people who are in their own homes. In this instance, the childminder was told that her home may now be liable for commercial rates. Tailte Éireann contacted her to assess the house. Childminders up until now believed they were exempt from such assessments. There is genuine fear in the sector about what this could mean. Even a modest rates bill could become an ongoing financial burden. Childminders who are due to register next year are now reconsidering. We need to ask the Minister what engagement is taking place with Tailte Éireann. We also need to appeal to all our local authorities to ensure that home-based childminders are treated fairly and we do not inadvertently drive people out of a sector that families are urgently relying on.

The last issue I want to raise is about traffic coming in to Dublin. The N7 is a vital road serving the commuter belt and ensuring that people can get into work, medical appointments and lots of other things. However, we have seen our road infrastructure struggle lately. A 45-minute journey can turn into a three-hour one. Public transport is good and it is important to see it moving on, but at the same time many people have to drive. I think a lot of it is down to the frequency of accidents, but we need to see multiple full-time emergency response units established to be able to manage traffic flow and to clear accidents quickly. I would like to see this raised with the Minister.