I thank colleagues for all their comments and participation. I will begin with Senator Rabbitte of Fianna Fáil on rehabilitation for children with acquired brain injuries. Senator Rabbitte, who was an excellent and distinguished Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, is aware of the issues and has real expertise in this regard. It is great that such expertise is now available to the Seanad. It is good that she is speaking out on these things because we need someone who has been on both sides of the fence. I agree with her that these children should be dealt with and sorted at community level and that teams should also be available at community level. Through my office, I recently dealt with an adult with a lot of injuries of this nature who wanted residential care locally in order to have the support of family, etc. Again, that should be facilitated. We should do these things locally. Support should be provided around the country. The Senator acknowledged the good work being carried out but it needs to be expanded upon and it needs support. She raised a point worthy of debate. We will try to ensure that, through the Civil Service, this point gets to the Minister for possible discussion.

Senator Kennelly raised the entire question of university fees. This issue has featured in the news in recent days. I know Senator Kennelly is personally interested in the whole question of third level grants, university fees and the ambition and stated objective in the programme for Government to abolish those fees over the lifetime of the Government, as well as to augment the grants as much as possible. I take the Senator’s well-made point. The Minister, Deputy Lawless, has said that he will do everything possible to avoid cutting college fee supports. He makes the point that it is early to announce the budget. He clarified the position well yesterday when stating that once Department allocations are made, he will examine the spending room available and negotiate to secure the best outcome for students across fees, grants and support for skills and apprenticeships, while at the same time recognising that overspending at the Department could risk possible cuts in the future. Basically, as the Minister outlined, it is a balancing act. The Senator’s point is well made, however.

Personally, it would be worthwhile to have a debate in the Seanad on student fees, third level financing and the whole sector. It is a relevant debate, and it should be acknowledged. Indeed, Deputy Maeve O’Connell made the point publicly, both on the plinth the other day and on the radio yesterday evening, that the Minister is extremely proactive and doing an excellent job in his Ministry. He is quite visionary in this regard. We will emerge at a consensus and the Government will honour its commitments.

Senator Craughwell raised the point about violence against women. It is interesting that he does so on the day in which, through the good office of the Cathaoirleach, I had a Commencement matter on this topic myself. The Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, encouragingly answered me by saying that there will be a refuge centre for women and children who are victims of domestic violence in County Cavan. He committed to that publicly. It is already in train in Monaghan. I will address the specific point raised by Senator Craughwell, however.

He cites the fact that 21,000 homes have been affected and a frightening figure of 277 women have died in violence since 1996. Domestic violence was a big issue for the Minister for foreign affairs, Deputy McEntee, when she was in justice. She did a lot of pioneering work on coercive control and domestic violence. The current Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is similarly committed to this. He said today in the course of his reply to me that it was a huge priority for him.

Senator Craughwell makes the point well. It is a point we cannot lose sight of. Let us work together on it. It would be worthwhile to discuss the issue as a House. I will discuss this with the Leader, Senator Kyne.

Senator Maria McCormack raised a pleasant and good story. We need good stories, too. They are important. It is important to affirm. We all thrive on affirmation and it is important to affirm good things when they happen. Senator McCormack talked about Rosenallis National School in County Laois, whose robotics team represented Ireland this weekend at the Vex Robotics World Championship in St. Louis in Missouri, one of the biggest robotics competitions in the world, and came home with the prestigious judges' award. That is a huge achievement for Rosenallis. I congratulate and applaud Senator McCormack for bringing this success of young people to the floor of the Parliament of the country. It is important that we applaud those children and that whole concept and that we revel in their success. There is enough bad news in the world, so it is great to have that. The Senator went on to make various points around the need to promote robotics and so on. I am sure that Senator McCormack will be happy to make submissions on that to any relevant Department. It was a very good point.

Senator Costello raised the question of RTÉ's "The Late Late Show" the other night. I did see a bit of it. As Senators know, I am a bit of a fan of the show, for a combination of reasons. I have been one of the beneficiaries of the show, next to Patrick Kielty. In all seriousness, Senator Costello makes a good point about the two young men - two brothers - who are going around the country doing a marathon in each county to highlight dementia, celebrate their wonderful mother, Geraldine, bring attention to this issue and, hopefully, raise funds for it. The issue was also raised by Senator Nelson Murray, who met them in Navan. It behoves all of us in our respective counties to meet and support them if we possibly can. They should be saluted from here. It is a wonderful thing. Jordan and Cian are the two young men. They are inspirational people.

Senator Nelson Murray raised a point dear to my own heart. In fact, I live on this route and know exactly what she is talking about, as would Senator Tully. I am referring to the N3, the whole chock-a-block thing on the M50 feeding off it and the lunacy that it is in terms of the waste of human effort, family time and quality time and all the awful things that go with it. I have sat in car parks on the M50 myself many a day. It is awful. The Senator is right. We have to prioritise the Navan to Dublin rail link. We must bring back rail travel to the maximum possible degree. Well done to the Senator. Knowing her, her tenacity and grit and the way she dealt with the insurance question, as sure as anything she will deliver a railway. Having worked with her close up, I would warn the Minister to ignore her at his peril. She will keep insisting until he does it.

Senator Keogan talked about a difficulty. I believe that she cited Stamullen specifically but then broadened it country-wide. It goes without saying, although she would be the first to say it, that we have to be a warm place for victims of international trafficking, for victims of the Syrian civil war and victims of violence abroad.

We have to be a warm and gentle place for asylum seekers. That is what Christ would want and what anyone with even humanist values would support and I know that the Senator does not dispute that. However, I do take her point that we have a housing crisis. It is certainly the case that in the housing of IPAS applicants, we cannot in any way prejudice the housing of young people who need homes. It is a worthy point that she raises and we will bring it into focus. I am sure the Minister for housing and the Department are monitoring these things but if they are not, they should be. We will try to get that fed in. Well done to the Senator.

I support the Cathaoirleach in welcoming the former Senator, Paudie Coffey. I beat him one time on a panel, which has been a great source of good humour between us since. We ran on the same panel for the Senate and I got more votes but he had a much more glamorous and glowing career subsequently, so he got me back.

There is one thing that should be said, unpatronisingly, to Senator Davitt, which is that he raises very intelligent points and innovative and creative ideas in the Senate. That is, in theory, what the Senate should be about and he does that in spades. He raises the good point today that if we support businesses financially, through taxation or grants, in having good, effective camera systems we avoid the need for community cameras and the vexed questions around civil liberties that arise with them. These cameras in businesses can be made available to An Garda Síochána. Senator Davitt is well placed to go to the Minister for justice with that and he should do so because it is a very good point.

I will move on now to Senator Cathal Byrne. I hope I have not missed any one in between. Senator Byrne was next, or at least I hope he was. He made a point about the warmer homes scheme and he is correct. It is crazy that there is a 12-month waiting list. It is daft that it is so slow but in my own office in Cavan town I have encountered this too. It is a problem.

I think you skipped Senator Scahill.

Apologies, Senator Scahill was next. I will come back to him presently. Staying with Senator Byrne, he argued that there should not be that level of delay and he is right. We will get that point made and fed in and will try to see what can be done about it. I personally have an interest in that issue. I know from work in my office that people are waiting too long. The Tánaiste said recently that we should focus on energy support and he is right. We have to give people fishing rods as well as fish. It is not enough to just apply a patch to deal with the present-day problem. Of course, we have to do that but we also want to get the heat pumps, solar panels and insulation in and create a situation where we do not need this into the future and where we would be fit to cope in an energy crisis.

Senator Scahill raises a very good point. In fact, I almost fell victim to this scam myself. Quite seriously, my youngest son has a tendency to lose a lot of things, which he did not lick off the grass. Neither did he lick off the grass a level of disorganisation, so when I got that call, my son was abroad and I was sure that he had lost his phone. I had gone most of the way to dealing with it and to sending money. They looked for money. The next message that comes back after one responds is that the son wants money. One transfers it and then one gives them access to one's bank account and they can get more money. It is a very effective scam because it pulls at the heart strings and gets to one's insecurities about a child abroad. Senator Scahill's child happened to be eight or nine years of age and sitting beside him but how many people were like me when it happened? We were anxious about a young fellow travelling out in Asia at the time when I got that message. I was sure he had lost his phone and I was really concerned and I was about to send money. I nearly did it. I went almost to the wire. Senator Scahill is right in what he says. I heard a figure of €160 million on the radio the other day, which is a huge amount of money to be gone in fraud. As Senator Scahill said, that money is gone to very dubious actors, places and causes. Approximately 57% of people retrieve their money but think of the poor unfortunate 43% whose hard-earned money evaporates.

Very few people can afford to lose whatever is in their bank account. The Senator also mentioned the gardaí coming out of Templemore last week and that something should be done about that. If I understood correctly, he proposed that a specific dedicated unit be established. My own nephew, Brian Tully, from Roscommon - the Senator will know the young man and his family - was one of those who graduated last week and I want to congratulate him. Senator Scahill is correct that part of that group which came out of Templemore should be dedicated to this issue. I have to give Senator Scahill very full answers or I would be in trouble domestically.

Senator Andrews raised the very important and fascinating issue of the reform of the in camera rule and the accountability for parents which can be hidden by the in camera rule. He is right that we need to look at this. We need transparency here and for parents to take responsibility. If justice is seen to be done publicly, those parents will step up to the mark. They will be shamed into doing it. It is amazing how public shaming can get the right result. I agree with Senator Andrews on that point. I will try to get that point brought to the Minister for justice and he should raise it again. It is worthy of further discussion in this House.

I will take the contributions of Senators Sarah O’Reilly and Martin Conway together. The two addressed the question of surrogacy from differing perspectives. I will start with Senator Conway and go back to Senator O’Reilly’s well-made points. Senator Conway is right that there are children all over this country in limbo. We had a colleague in this House, Senator emeritus, let us call her, Mary Seery Kearney, who is a great pioneer in this area. She has an 11-year-old child who does not have full legal rights from a family perspective as things stand. That is the point Senator Conway was making. Senator Sarah O’Reilly was making the point that there must be protection for birth mothers, foster parents and adoptive parents. Hers was the flip side of the same point but they are not mutually exclusive. There is no reason that we cannot live in a society that accommodates the human rights of all concerned and ensures rights and that there is not an abuse of women, whether they are abroad or in this country. I thank both Senators.

I personally agree with Senator Duffy. I was a member of a joint policing committee, JPC, and it did great interactive work. It was very good. I was a local representative. You could attend the meetings and know what was happening in your area. Often the superintendents and senior inspectors would come down chatting. Indeed, Senator Tully was on the JPC with me in the past. You would raise a point in broad terms in the public arena there and the superintendent might come down and chat to you afterwards on the specifics of that and there was follow-up. Very often the superintendent would come back to you later. The input of public representatives is a big loss to those committees and I think it does need reform.

Senator McCarthy sounded a very interesting note on the hantavirus. It is a sobering reminder to all of us that we are never all that far from a potential global pandemic. With global travel and things the way they are internationally we can have a pandemic at any time. That is one of the reasons, without being party political, that we cannot squander the family jewels and spend every penny in the public coffers. We have to keep a contingency fund. You never know when we will have a virus, a natural disaster or an act of terrorism. We do need to have money in reserve. There could be a national outbreak of animal disease like foot and mouth or avian flu. We cannot spend the family silver exclusively at one time. That merits saying. Senator McCarthy raised a valid point. We are concerned about the two Irish citizens. I anticipated the big news things that would come up here and I contacted the Department of foreign affairs on this question.

The Department is following up with consular assistance for the two Irish people involved. It is a concerning situation, that is all I can say. The Senator is right to raise it.

Senator Pauline Tully raised a matter that I previously raised on the Order of Business a few weeks ago. I could not agree with her more. Her office is located just up the street from mine in Cavan. It is possible that we have some of the same people. Certainly, in my office - and it cannot be that different in the hers - people are coming in and stating that they have got home help approved but they are waiting for months and can get no help. What good is that letter to a poor creature who cannot get out of bed or have a shower, when her family have to collect the children from school and there is no help. We all know the difficulties involved. I will not labour the point. The Senator is absolutely correct. We have to bring in a State system of home care along the lines of the fair deal model in order that people will have an automatic right to home care. It should be organised in a way similar to the fair deal scheme and we get home care workers paid properly on a full-time basis. As they give up one portfolio when a person dies, they get another client. There is a need for radical reform here. The Senator is absolutely right. These things are above party politics. I have no inhibition about having a debate on the matter in the Chamber or about joining the Senator in raising it here, particularly as it is so important. Colleagues are nodding in agreement. We are picking all picking up on this in our clinics. Well done to the Senator for raising the matter.

I do not think I have not left anyone out. If I have, sincere apologies. I thank the Senators for their contributions.