The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding arrangements for the address to Seanad Éireann by MEPs representing the European Parliament Midlands North-West constituency, to be taken on conclusion of the Order of Business, without debate; No. 2, International Co-operation (Omagh Bombing Inquiry) Bill 2026 - Second Stage, to be taken at 1 p.m. and to conclude not later than 3.15 p.m., with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed three minutes, all other Senators not to exceed five minutes and the Minister to be given not less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; No. 3, statements on the Action Plan for Insurance Reform 2025-2029, to be taken at 3.30 p.m. and to conclude not later than 4.45 p.m., with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed eight minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes, time may be shared, and the Minister to be given not less than seven minutes to reply to the debate; No. 56, motion 1, Private Members' Business, motion regarding An Garda Síochána, to be taken at 5 p.m., with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours.

I wish to give a shout-out to all of those involved in the Kildare Inclusivity Festival, which took place on the Curragh racecourse last Sunday. It was the brainchild of Councillor Bernard Caldwell, and it is such a positive and uplifting community event. It celebrates diversity, accessibility and the power of inclusion. Kildare County Council is very involved, as is the County Kildare Access Network and a whole range of local organisations. It is a free festival and it celebrates people of all abilities through live entertainment, interactive activities and meaningful community connections. Newbridge Autism Friendly Town was very involved, continuing its work alongside communities and businesses. Young people from Athy Sign and Sing, who sign and sing through Irish Sign Language, were also involved. Newbridge Gospel Choir and many young musicians and acts from across Kildare who are part of Music Generation also took part. It is a wonderful festival. Well done to Brian Kavanagh and Evan Arkwright of the Curragh racecourse. We want to see more of festivals modelled on it across the country.

I will speak also about the ongoing water outages affecting residents who rely on the Allenwood reservoir. I have been contacted by numerous people from the area whose water supply is being cut off almost weekly, with repeated outages occurring for several months. We all understand that some outages cannot be avoided, but what is causing a greater frustration for residents is the complete lack of notice and communication from Uisce Éireann. If water is to be turned off due to low reservoir levels, that needs to be communicated to residents well in advance so that they can prepare accordingly. Many residents who have signed up to receive text alerts from Uisce Éireann do not receive them. It is clearly a communications failure. When residents log complaints they do not receive any communication back from anybody. Families with small children and elderly and vulnerable residents being left without heating and water is simply not good enough. It is completely unacceptable. We need a debate in the House on the matter with the Minister.

I welcome the Taoiseach's visit to Newbridge last Monday to open the new Diageo Guinness plant. The plant cost approximately €300 million and will employ about 100 people. It is the first carbon neutral brewery of its kind and the largest in Europe. It is also the first Guinness brewery in Ireland outside James's Gate. It is great to see it, and I wish all involved well.

Another company in Newbridge, Schlötter Ireland, celebrates its 50th anniversary today. It deals with chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Some 50 people work there and the company has a superb CEO in Damian Carey. I wish it well on its 50th anniversary and look forward to joining the team later.

Before I call the next speaker, I welcome to the Gallery guests of Senator Craughwell who work in the area of hypertension and cardiology and are giving a presentation later in the audiovisual room. I thank them for coming. Glaoim ar an Seanadóir Duffy.

I, too, welcome the visitors to the Gallery. Knocking on doors in both Dublin and Galway in recent weeks has been very useful to keep abreast of different challenges facing people and keep the finger on the pulse. As we know, one of the great issues of the day is housing. One of the suggestions that was raised with me, and one I would like the Minister for housing and the Government generally to consider, relates to the whole process of buying a home where first-time buyers and others trying to purchase a forever home enter into a competition with no clear end in sight in terms of the final asking price. In other countries around Europe the asking price is the asking price and it is acceptable to the seller. Once it is reached, the deal is done, whereas here in Ireland the process is different and there is a constant bidding war. This creates huge stress and pressure for people as there is a lack of clarity on how much it will cost to buy a forever home. People engage with mortgage providers thinking they can afford to buy a home at a certain asking price but when they begin to engage in the process, they are constantly outbid. If an asking price is communicated to someone selling residential property, it would be logical and fair that it be agreed and protected for a period of 90 days, for example, in order to protect people going through the mortgage process or trying to buy a home.

I would welcome a debate on this proposal with the Minister for housing to consider and discuss it further. It would require support from the Government. It has been raised with me on the doors and by friends who are trying to buy an apartment or a home and are encountering a process whereby the asking price is just a hook to get people engaged in a process. It raises and then dashes people's hopes because the final price for purchasing the home is far greater than the initial asking price. I would welcome if the Minister considered my proposal, which would be welcomed by people trying to buy their forever home.

As the Cathaoirleach pointed out, there will be a presentation in the audiovisual room at 12.30 p.m. by some of the leading cardiologists in the country and members of related professions.

The topic under discussion will be hypertension and its dangers. People tend to think that stroke is something that afflicts people in the latter part of their lives and people in the departure lounge, like myself, who are over a certain age. In actual fact, one of my school friends had a stroke at 37 and spent the rest of his natural life in a nursing home. Stroke can affect anybody, hypertension can affect anybody and cardiac-related events can affect any person. I ask Members of the Seanad and the Dáil to attend today, if they can, to get to meet some of the professionals who are there and take a few moments to listen to what they have to say.

Last week, the Department of Defence came before the defence committee and I raised questions concerning the purchase of four H145 helicopters for the Defence Forces. In my view, they do not meet the requirements of the commission on the future of the Defence Forces. They are not medium-lift helicopters. The commission looked for the purchase of two medium-lift helicopters, which would be the AgustaWestland 139s, and between now and 2030 for a move to having eight super-medium-lift helicopters. Apparently, there is now no money left to buy the super-medium-lift helicopters. I have asked on a number of occasions for the Minister for Defence to come to the House for an open debate on adherence to Government policy and the commission on the future of the Defence Forces. Another issue we should discuss is that we are now piling all of our eggs into one basket and we have selected one country for the supply of nearly all defence equipment. Professor Davis, who spoke to the committee two weeks ago, advised that this was folly.

Politics change and countries change their attitudes. We need to explore this with the Minister to see exactly who is driving the agenda in this country and what the agenda is. Are we going to follow to the letter of the law the recommendations of the commission on the future of the Defence Forces? This is very important. Buying four helicopters is great but if they cannot do the job we want of them what good are they? They certainly cannot carry a section of special forces people. Whether they would be able to fight fires I am not sure. It was said they were being used for training. If they are only being used for training why do we need missile systems on them? Government policy is to have no Israeli equipment of any sort, but I understand these helicopters may well have Israeli equipment. There are questions for the Departments of Defence and justice to answer with respect to the purchase of these helicopters.

I will start on a good note by congratulating Senator Nicole Ryan on the birth of her baby girl this morning. Mum and baby are doing well. I wanted to give the House this update. She is absolutely over the moon. The youngest Senator was born this morning.

It is an Irish name - Réidín. I am sorry. There are a lot of e's and i's in it so I am not 100% sure. I will brush up on my Irish just to pronounce her daughter's name.

In recent months, I have advocated against and given out about the EU's Mercosur deal. Sinn Féin as a whole has been against it for many years. Last night, it was announced that the Commission has an updated list of countries from which it will accept imports and Brazil is not on that list. It is going against the Mercosur deal that von der Leyen pushed through against the will of the MEPs who voted for it to go to the courts to see whether it was a deal we could take. With Brazil not being on the list for imports, it looks like that in the next day or two the Commission will bring forward a rule to ban imports from Brazil from September onwards. One of the comments made was that antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest public health threats of our time, which is quite scary when we think about it. We recently had 128 kg of this beef in Ireland and it had been consumed before we knew it was here.

Given the fact the EU is now going to look at banning this from September, I request that the Irish Government moves before the EU, thinks about the public health in this country and, as of today, bans the import of Brazilian beef. One thing for sure is that I do not trust the meat in this country. I have never seen so many advertisements on television for approved Bord Bia products and approved Irish quality, but I know from committee meetings and reports that not everything packaged as Irish is Irish. It comes in and is given the quality assurance mark but we do not know whether it is Irish. Just because it is packaged here it does not mean it is Irish. I would like to see the Government move quicker on this and not wait until September to ban Brazilian beef.

I will speak about the ambulance dispute, which has stopped for the moment. I will go back to the start of it. When we ring for an ambulance, we do not care what qualifications the people have. We just want to know they will do the job we trust them to do. We rely on them so much. It does not make sense to me that the HSE is talking about having conditions before going into negotiations. We cannot end a dispute if there are predetermined conditions before negotiations even start. I have spoken to ambulance personnel who have spent years training and upskilling. Their job role has changed and we all spoke about this yesterday. What struck me when listening to some of their concerns is that many people in the ambulance service want to remain as drivers or want to drop down to be drivers. They do not want to have an extra role. There is a fear that the driving role is being handed over to private companies, which is a real issue.

This is about how we are handing over public services to private providers. I again question the Government's attitude towards State-led childcare. This morning I heard Tigers Childcare, which has been in receipt of public money for years, including core funding in the early years sector, has been sold to UK-based Kids Planet Day Nurseries for €75 million. Kids Planet is owned by Fremman Capital which has assets under management valued at €3.6 billion. Is this who we want running our childcare? We can see the same thing is happening with nursing homes. For example, I have raised an issue in Sligo with regard to elderly people in a retirement village. They are being operated by big multinational private companies with investments in private companies.

Is this who we want running our ambulance service, our childcare or any of our essential public services that should be provided by the State? We are handing them over. There is a lot more to this dispute. To go back to the ambulance service personnel, they have upskilled. They have spent time and money upskilling. It beggars belief that we are already on the first step. Yesterday's strike has ended but already there are preconditions prior to the next day of action on 19 May. This is no way to enter negotiations, with the Government and the HSE already saying if the personnel do this then they cannot do that. We need to be very aware that we are continuously moving to the privatisation of public services.

I welcome to the Gallery Councillor Terry Coleman, his wife Martina and Chris, who is doing an internship this week. They would love to stay for the whole of the Order of Business but I believe they are going to the Dáil for Leaders' Questions to see some back and forth in the Dáil Chamber, which will be happening at 12 noon. I thank them for being in Seanad Éireann today.

Last week I brought up the issue of fraud through text messages and emails, how one third of people affected by this type of fraud do not report it and the fact that 57% of people who did report it were getting their funds back. Since I raised it last week, I have been inundated with correspondence from people all over the country. A number of people who have been affected by this who never felt the ability to report it or talk about it have contacted me and told me their stories.

We need to have a debate in this House, probably with the Minister for Finance, about the onus on the banks and other institutions to follow this up. One person sent me a message to say they had received correspondence and texts from an official bank number, which told them an unauthorised device had accessed their account and gave them instructions. What had happened was that the scammer had infiltrated the bank's security system. The person immediately followed all the instructions they were given, transferred money from one account to another account and someone was at a bank machine at the other end of that account, probably standing in front of a camera where they could be seen, withdrawing this money. Now, this individual has no follow up because the money was immediately taken out and the bank could not freeze it. The same individual told me the bank froze the account and subsequently additional money was taken out of the account. The banks are not doing enough to follow up on this and if they are not, maybe we are not doing enough to legislate for this. Therefore, we need to have a conversation about this to protect individuals. Based on the correspondence I have received about this in recent days, there is a multiplier of the information and the people we know have been affected by this so I would love for that conversation to happen.

I will address the plight of clinical measurement physiologists, CMPs, who are highly skilled professionals working in cardiology, neurophysiology, respiratory and other diagnostic areas. They play a central role in patient care, yet remain chronically under-recognised. As far back as 2010, the McHugh report highlighted the need for updated workforce structures for professions such as CMP. More than a decade later, those issues remain largely unsolved and the profession continues to operate within frameworks that are badly out of date. CMP remains an unregulated profession. While proposals have repeatedly been made to bring CMP under the CORU framework, the Government has totally failed to actively embrace those proposals.

The result is that these highly specialised clinicians continue to work without statutory regulation or protected professional titles and without the assurance for patients regulation is meant to provide. Consequently, CMPs represented by Fórsa entered an industrial relations process earlier this year when a planned work-to-rule protest was suspended following intervention by the Workplace Relations Commission. However, engagement by the HSE has been lax, fragmented and lacking urgency, leaving serious concerns in the profession about whether the issues are being treated as seriously as they should be.

What is perhaps most extraordinary is the complete absence of modern workforce planning. The most recent meaningful workforce review affecting CMPs dates back to 1986. That is not a typo. It means this highly technical, safety critical profession is still being planned on the basis of assumptions made nearly 40 years ago, before much of today's diagnostic technology existed. After many years of service, CMPs still await proper recognition, regulation and workforce planning for their essential roles. I urge the Government to take action on this. Perhaps the Leader could raise the matter with the Minister for Health.

I congratulate Senator Nicole Ryan on the birth of her baby. We are not sure of the name - it might be Réaltín - but we express our congratulations and hope she is enjoying the newborn bubble.

I will raise something I have spoken about in this Chamber before related to safeguarding in sport. There was another story in the newspaper last weekend about athlete welfare and safeguarding. This time it was to do with ladies football and alleged racist abuse on the field of play. Unfortunately, it is just another example of how we are still dropping the ball - forgive the pun - on protecting our athletes, safeguarding them and upholding athlete welfare across all sports. Last weekend, it was ladies football. Another weekend it will be rowing, tennis or athletics.

Unfortunately, my inbox is inundated with concerns and complaints and various stories, which are anecdotal at this point, about children, young people and adults being let down, primarily by the system. However, at a granular level, they are being let down by coaches and administration. It is incumbent on us as legislators to keep an eye on it and to fix it, if at all possible. We have had some discussions at committee level about safeguarding. We still do not have any of the answers to the questions we asked the Football Association of Ireland, FAI, the last time it appeared before the Oireachtas joint committee and we are still awaiting the outcome of an independent investigation into what happened at Rowing Ireland. Clearly, there are failings and weaknesses and we need to address them.

I call for a review of the Sport Ireland Act 2015 and a look at what legislation we need to amend. Further to that, we need to look at what is being done internationally. Canada, New Zealand and Australia have all legislated for a sport integrity unit and I want to discuss that with the Minister, perhaps at committee level, but certainly in this Chamber, because we are dropping the ball on safeguarding our athletes.

Like my colleague Senator Ní Chuilinn, I congratulate Senator Nicole Ryan. We are on a cross-party group about pregnancy and infant loss together and she has been amazing to work with. I can only imagine the joy this morning in her little family. It is absolutely amazing news.

I was standing on a sideline, as people with children do, a few weeks ago and ended up talking to someone about solar panels. The person was not talking to me from a political perspective. The person mentioned that they are a teacher, as is their wife and they have had to ring Electric Ireland to set up a payment plan to pay their energy costs. I was thrown when I heard that two people in full-time employment had that type of issue. They live in a semi-detached house in rural Ireland. It got me thinking about what more we need to do to support people with energy costs and support our country to be able to provide more energy.

Our electricity is expensive because we have a perfect storm of structural problems, rather than there being a single cause. ESRI researchers say that Ireland's exposure to international gas markets was the biggest reason for household electricity prices becoming so high in recent years. The main reasons are heavy dependence on gas, with around 50% of Irish electricity generation still coming from gas, being an energy island with expensive grid infrastructure and small market size, taxes and levies, supplier strategies and having a lot of rural one-off housing meaning there are more poles, wires and maintenance per household. There are a lot of things we need to do, such as accelerating offshore wind and renewables, building major battery storage, expanding interconnectors to other countries, reforming our pricing and speeding up planning and grid delivery. We are giving out super energy grants at the moment for people to be able to make their homes more energy efficient. There is a good one for a new front door; people can get €800 towards that. They can get €3,000 or €4,000 for double glazed windows and €1,500 for attic insulation. I was delivering a leaflet recently and a woman said to me that she will not be able to get the grants as it is means-tested. Therefore, I encourage people. They can get it. It is not means-tested. However, maybe we need to look at the criteria for applying for the grants and not make them so strict. We need to allow people to allow their homes to become more energy efficient and to increase the amount we are giving for solar panels because we definitely need to be able to produce our own energy. I would welcome a debate on that.

I echo the congratulations to Senator Nicole Ryan. It is great news and I am delighted for her.

Last night at 9.20 p.m., the Minister for Defence, Deputy McEntee, broadcast a statement on X:

I condemn the launch of hundreds of bombs and drones on Ukraine last night ... Ireland stands with Ukraine and for peace.

Yet, in recent years Ireland has exported millions of tonnes of alumina to Russian smelters in Krasnogorsk, where the high grade aluminium rods and bricks are used in the construction of the propulsion systems for reverse engineered Shahed drones and for the casings of hypersonic missiles. On the one hand, Ireland says we stand with Ukraine and for peace and, on the other, we allow the export of this material.

I am also concerned that Rusal, which is owned by an oligarch connected to Vladimir Putin, has applied for and received permission to expand the red sludge bauxite pit of tailings and slurry it has in the Shannon Estuary. This is being challenged by Limerick residents before the High Court.

On 26 March, Paul Cunningham of RTÉ reported that the Minister announced that the Government had initiated two reviews into the export of alumina, which is now being used in the killing of innocent Ukrainian civilians and defenders. That was six weeks ago. What is happening?

It has again been reported that cluster munitions, which ironically were banned at an international convention in Ireland, at Croke Park in 2008, are being transported through Irish airspace to the Israeli military to be used in places such as Wadi Zibqin, Wadi Barghouz and Deir Siryan, all of which are in and around Irish troops, where Irish troops are trying to protect the Lebanese civilians who are being ethnically cleansed. What country allows the export of alumina to Russia's war machine and says, "We stand with Ukraine"? What country refuses to inspect or find the payload details of aircraft, for which Irish taxpayers are paying the navigation fees, for weapons that will be used in and around young Irish men and women in the service of peace? We have a complete lack of situational awareness. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, are completely out of their depth. I have asked over and over again for a debate. We must get either the Minister or the Taoiseach into the Chamber to explain why we do not have a Minister for Defence and why the Committee on Defence and National Security is not allowed to ask these questions.

I would like to be associated with the congratulations to my constituency colleague Senator Nicole Ryan on the recent birth of her baby. I wish her, her partner and her new child all the very best.

An incredibly important decision by the EU Commission was announced yesterday. From 3 September 2026, Brazilian agricultural imports, including beef, honey, eggs and poultry, will not be allowed into the European Union. This is the result of a decision showing that Brazil is not compliant with EU standards for the use of antimicrobials and antibiotics. It is important to note in terms of the Mercosur agreement, which has provisionally been in place since 1 May, that Brazil is the only one of the four Mercosur countries that has been found to be non-compliant. This acknowledgement is a great step forward. This is what Ireland has been saying. It is what our Minister for agriculture has been saying. I take this opportunity to commend the Irish Farmers Association and the Irish Farmers Journal on an investigation they carried out last year. They went to Brazil and saw just how easily accessible antibiotics are for use in animals. It is very important that when we are looking at our food produce, we do not have use of antimicrobials or antibiotics. We have a growing problem across the world with antimicrobial resistance and this decision is incredibly important in that regard. It shows the strength of the EU at it stands behind its standards and ensures it does not let substandard produce into the European Union and Ireland.

As a country, we are a fantastic producer of beef and produce some of the best beef in the world. We gain massively from the European market. However, we want fair standards and that is why I welcome this decision. I would appreciate it if we could ask the Minister for trade or the Minister for agriculture to come to the House to discuss this decision and the implications it will have.

Before I call the next speaker, I welcome back to the Seanad on a temporary basis Deputy Carrigy, a former Seanadóir, students from Scoil Samhthann, Ballinalee, County Longford, and Ms McCormack and Ms Larkin. Ballinalee is famous for the blacksmith of Ballinalee. A good friend of mine, Padraig Sheridan, is a grandnephew of his. We had many an argument over the Civil War, Padraig and I. We had many pints as we discussed it.

Our guests are from Ballinalee. I spoke earlier to Deputy Carrigy. When you visit Seanad Éireann as a school, there is no homework for the rest of the week. The students can thank the Deputy and the teachers can blame him, if they wish.

I join colleagues in congratulating Senator Nicole Ryan on her fantastic news. I wish her and her family the very best.

I want to discuss the issue of the family carer's payment. In my county of Wexford, approximately 16,000 people are caring for a loved one - a child with a disability, a spouse with an illness or a parent with dementia or Alzheimer's. At the moment, they are entitled to approximately €270 per week, but that is subject to a means test. Unfortunately, the cold, hard reality of that means test, which takes into account your part-time job, your spouse's income and your savings, means that many people are on reduced payments or are not receiving a payment. It is important that we recognise the contribution of these carers, the work they are doing in saving money for the State by caring for people who otherwise would be in a nursing home or a hospital bed. The party of which I am a part, namely, Fine Gael, and the Government as a whole, agreed that we would abolish the means test and that we would increase the amount paid to carers from €270 to €325. Changes have been made to the level of savings and income people can have before the full means test kicks in, and I know those changes will be introduced in July. However, the Minister for Social Protection must come in here and give us a clear timeline for when the means test will be abolished fully and when the €325 payment will be made available to all those people who are saving the State hundreds of millions of euro every year. I am asking that we bring the Minister to the House to have a debate on the issue so that the people who are caring at the moment have certainty on when the means test will be gone and the higher payment of €325 will come in.

I congratulate my party colleague Senator Nicole Ryan and her partner on the birth of their daughter, Réidín. I wish them health and happiness into the future.

The portal for the school transport scheme closed on Friday for applications, payments and medical card details. A few years ago, there was a review of the school transport scheme and it was indicated and recommended that the condition that you had to attend your nearest school in order to be eligible for school transport should be removed and that the distance you must live from the school should be reduced. I am looking for an update on that. There were plans to increase capacity to, or perhaps by, 100,000 by 2030. I think it is the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, who deals with the issue. Could we ask him to come to the House and update us?

The particular issue that I want to focus on is medical card holders. If your child is attending the nearest school and is eligible for child transport, you do not have to pay if you have a medical card. However, if your child is not, and is depending on a concessionary ticket, you have to pay even if you have a medical card. That is unfair. If the seat is there and they can get the ticket on a concessionary basis and have a medical card, I do not feel such people should be punished by having to pay. We know the threshold for medical cards is very low so families who qualify for medical cards are trying to cope with small incomes. I know of a family whose children attended the second nearest school because it was the school of their parish. Their nearest school was in a different parish and they chose to have their child attend the school of their parish. They are medical card holders but have to pay for the child to use the school bus. They wanted their child to go to school in the parish in which they live because that is where the children would be playing football and so forth with their club. They are penalised for that. I have heard from other families in a similar situation. They do not feel they should have to pay for school bus tickets.

I also note that the primary school bus ticket doubled in price this year. It went from €50 to €100. For post-primary, the cost went from €75 to €100. In the overall scheme of things, that is not a huge amount for transport provision, but it is a big leap. It is also a burden when you place it with everything else that families are now trying to cope with in the context of cost-of-living pressures. I would welcome a debate if the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, were to come to the Chamber.

I acknowledge and congratulate Senator Nicole Ryan on the birth of her little daughter, Réidín.

I remember, back in 2024, when the Dublin city task force was announced with great fanfare. It had ten big moves and one of those was social housing regeneration. That has morphed into the Dublin city regeneration authority.

The CEO of that authority gets a payment of €280,000 per year. I cannot help thinking this is like jobs for the boys. When you look at the community groups that work with regeneration groups, they get zero funding or a very small amount of it. Yesterday at the housing committee, residents and community groups from Pearse House, Oliver Bond and Dolphin House came in to outline the concerns they have. The Pearse House regeneration proposal was cancelled, the Oliver Bond regeneration proposal was cancelled and they cannot meet the Minister, Deputy Browne. He is the invisible housing Minister; he has not been showing up and will not meet with them. He has not met them at all, just like the Glass Bottle housing group in Ringsend. They have not seen or met with him.

The Minister needs to reverse the decision to cancel the regeneration plans for Pearse House and Oliver Bond House. Residents in Pearse House and Oliver Bond House and the inner city deserve better. When you look at the Dublin regeneration authority, the remit is to regenerate the inner city. Most people would say Pearse Street and Oliver Bond House are in the inner city, yet they are not being factored into this new special purpose vehicle. It is just not acceptable. We need the Minister in here, he needs to reverse the decision to cancel the regeneration schemes and he needs to show the residents the respect they deserve to meet with them, to go through alternative plans and reverse the decision to cancel regeneration.

First, Senator Keogan wished to congratulate, as do I, our colleague, Senator Nicole Ryan, and we wish baby Réidín Lydia a long, happy, healthy and productive life, inside or outside of Seanad Éireann.

I want to mention this morning the report the Oireachtas joint committee on communications, culture and media - on which I sit - has produced regarding online safety. I want to be fair here and acknowledge the good work done by committee colleagues and I welcome their recommendations, particularly the recommendation on dealing with harmful recommender algorithm systems. That is very helpful, and I hope it will inform Government policy and objectives. However, I have regrettably, but sincerely, criticised a failure by the committee to grasp the nettle on two points. One is to pay serious attention to the calls for a ban on platforms allowing persons under 16 to open social media accounts. The committee failed to understand it is the opening of accounts that is in play, it is not about banning children from accessing social media directly. Without consulting properly with parents and experts on the harms excessive and early use of social media is causing, and without waiting to see how the Australian policy in particular evolves over time, the committee has rushed a judgment in its commentary, suggesting that a ban is somehow a bad idea without even understanding the precise measure that is in place and examining it closely. That is really regrettable. I asked the committee to hear from experts on the harms done by excessive screen and social media time, people such as Professor Jonathan Haidt, and there was an opportunity to hear from such experts, but the committee declined to do so.

The second point is the failure to take seriously enough the need to make it a crime and for there to be a penalty for platforms allowing underage persons to access pornography online. Again, huge danger is done here. The committee talks about risk assessment, graduated approaches and regulation, but it is not in touch with the concern of parents and the actual harms done by exposure of young people to pornography. For example, if you were to try to buy vaping or nicotine products online, you would have to use a credit card to show, among other things, that you are over 18. There is nothing like this protection being recommended by the committee in respect of the harms posed by pornography and social media accounts.

I am afraid some good work was done but there was a real failure to have enough guts to grasp the nettle for the sake of the children of this country and their very concerned families. This is an issue they will have to come back to and they will have to question their thinking and caution on this.

As Senators are aware, committee reports and recommendations can be debated in the Seanad, so it is possible for it to be put on the Order Paper and time could be given for it to be debated.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for that. Action will be taken.

The provision also allows for it to be debated six to 12 months after it has been published and launched, so the implementation or lack of implementation could be part of the debate with the Minister.

Anois, the Acting Leader to respond to the Order of Business.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and all my colleagues who raised matters this morning. Following the contributions from all Senators, I wish our colleague, Senator Nicole Ryan, the very best on the wonderful news of her new baby girl being born this morning. We all wish her well. Many of us in this Chamber understand the excitement and joy of a newborn baby coming into the world. It is such a special time for her and her family. I suggest we write, or the Cathaoirleach might write to her on behalf of all Members of the Seanad, to congratulate her on this wonderful news. She will have a busy time ahead, as many of us know, but I am sure she will manage the days and weeks ahead.

Senator O'Loughlin raised this morning an inclusion event in the Curragh Racecourse, congratulating and celebrating all the individuals from different abilities who are involved. She also spoke about water outages. This is obviously something that comes up in this Chamber a lot as regards the lack of communication from Irish Water. It is a real frustration for people in communities, particularly those that have a constant outage of water for one reason or another. The very least a member of the community would expect, if they did what Irish Water asked them to do, which is register and sign up to receive text messages or emails on when outages would happen and most importantly, when they were resolved, is to receive those text messages once they have signed up. According to the Senator, there are cases in Kildare where they have not and we will raise that with the Minister and ask for a debate. There have been many debates regarding Irish Water - committee debates and others - but we will raise it with the Minister. The Senator also mentioned the new Guinness plant being built down in Kildare. It is another great example of big investment happening outside of Dublin and creating jobs in rural Ireland. She gave two examples of that in her own area and obviously, that is to be welcomed.

Senator Duffy talked about being out meeting people in Dublin Central and Galway. I am sure he is meeting people in Mayo as well. He brought up a very interesting point. One of the challenges, and Senator Duffy and I have numerous friends in this position at present, is that people are looking to buy their first home. They are getting a mortgage from a bank, which is a challenge in itself for many but luckily, there are measures in place to allow people to get mortgages. They look for their dream home for where they want to live and they think they have a mortgage that fits the requirement to buy a house. However, it transpires that because of the competitiveness of it, they are sometimes not even close. I see houses in Tipperary that have an asking price of €360,000 and they are going for €540,000 and €550,000. It can be incredibly frustrating and I know many people who have gone through four, five or six competitive processes, have almost got to the end and have bid over what they can afford - they know it themselves but just want to have a family home - and are still losing. It can get very depressing for people. I am not sure of the countries that do it now, but it is certainly a very interesting suggestion and is worth having the debate with the Minister for housing, Deputy Browne, on it, whether that is a full debate on housing or a Commencement matter. That debate would be very welcome by many people in Ireland who find themselves in that incredibly frustrating position.

Senator Craughwell spoke today about a presentation happening in the audiovisual room regarding hypertension and stroke.

As he said himself, a stroke can happen at any age, not just his own. It is something that needs to be talked about more. There is a very good person in Tipperary, Mr. Martin Quinn, who holds a stroke conference every year in Cashel. Senator Clonan attended it this year. The conference focuses on the signs of stroke and the things that need to be done to recognise them. Support and recognition should be given by the Government going forward and I am sure a debate in this House would be helpful in that regard. Senator Craughwell issued an invitation to Members to attend an important discussion on the issue in the audiovisual room.

He also spoke about the purchase of four helicopters by the Defence Forces. Obviously it is important that the Defence Forces have money to buy much-needed equipment, whether that is helicopters or other necessary equipment. The type of helicopter purchased is a matter for the Defence Forces themselves and it is not for the Minister to get involved in that level of micro-management. However, as the Senator said, it is important that spending is in line with long-term Government policy in terms of supporting the Defence Forces. He outlined how all of this equipment has come from one country. In any expenditure decisions we make as a Government we should be trying to find ways to support Irish businesses, whether that is in the area of defence or any other area. There are lots of Irish companies, including one in County Louth, that would be very good in providing maintenance of Defence Forces equipment. The Government cannot buy helicopters in Ireland but it can give employment contracts to companies in Ireland for maintenance of equipment. A debate on that could be quite useful so I will contact the Minister in that regard.

Senator Joanne Collins raised the great news about Senator Nicole Ryan. She also spoke the EU Mercosur deal and Brazilian beef. As has been said, this is exactly the reason Government parties were not in favour of that deal. It would be helpful to have a full debate on the issues raised by the Senator. Mercosur was a very controversial topic before Christmas in the context of decisions made by this Government on the deal. This country has benefited hugely from trade deals but we also need to make sure that all food, beef in particular, that comes into this country is of a sufficiently high and healthy standard for the people of this country.

Senator Cosgrove raised the ambulance service and the issue of public services being given to private providers. We had a very good discussion in the Chamber yesterday on the Order of Business about the service that ambulance personnel provide across the country. A number of weeks are available between now and the next possible strike day to make sure that the concerns of ambulance staff are met and a compromise between both sides can be found. As the Senator said, if people are going into negotiations with preconditions, that is never helpful. Most negotiations should start with no preconditions. That said, I trust that both sides genuinely want to come to an agreement. A lot of the arguments that the ambulance service has put forward are very credible and need to be addressed.

Senator Cosgrove also spoke about contracts going to private providers and about big companies being involved in childcare provision. We all know that we do not have enough childcare providers at the moment. We have to make sure we have enough childcare spaces for people. We constantly hear of people, and I am sure it is also the case in Sligo, who cannot go back to work because they cannot find a childcare provider. That said, I understand the Senator's concerns in relation to the privatisation of services. I will take them on board and speak to the Minister but the real challenge is trying to find enough spaces across the country, whether in Sligo, Tipperary or anywhere else, particularly for children under the age of one. However, I accept that her concerns are genuine.

Senator Scahill raised an issue that he also raised last week, namely, fraudulent text messages and emails. Everyone has experienced this at some point, where a text message comes in asking one to send money to this, that or the other or to give bank details. The most recent example, which Senator Joe O'Reilly also spoke about last week, is a message purporting to be from one's son, on a new phone, asking for €50 to be sent on. It is a very easy trap for someone to fall into. Senator Scahill is right when he says the banks have a responsibility to make sure their customers are protected. Perhaps there is something the Government can to do in relation to that. We could have a debate with the Minister for Finance on what can be done. Some of these scams are just so simple and can easily catch people out. We need to do something. I am not surprised that the Senator has been inundated with emails and text messages from people who have been in that vulnerable position.

Senator Keogan raised the situation of clinical measurement physiologists, CMPs, and the fact that a lot of their workforce structures have not been updated in 40 years, which is phenomenal, considering the changes that have happened in the health service in that time. We were talking about the ambulance service yesterday, whose work structure has been updated twice in 60 years while that of the CMPs has not been updated in 40 years. That is certainly something that needs to be looked at and I will talk to the Minister for Health about it. I suggest the Senator raise it as a Commencement matter but I will talk to the Minister about it. It is good to hear that the Workplace Relations Commission is involved in trying to reach some sort of agreement. It would not be uncommon for the HSE to be seen as an organisation that is not as accommodating as it should be. It is important that the Senator raised that issue today in order to highlight it.

Senator Ní Chuilinn spoke about sports welfare and racist abuse. Like Senator Scahill, she has a full inbox in relation to the issues she has raised, which is very positive. Something that Senator Ní Chuilinn has been raising for quite some time now is a review of the Sport Ireland Act 2015 and the setting up of some sort of independent sports integrity unit to which sports people can go make a complaint, whether it is about racism or some other abuse, without fearing for their position. This has worked well in other countries, including Australia, for example, and it should be looked at here. I am sure that Senator Ní Chuilinn will work on this as part of the Oireachtas sports committee, of which I am also a member. I will invite the Minister to come to the House to discuss it.

Senator Nelson Murray spoke about energy costs and the real challenges they present for people. She related the case of a couple who one would not think would be under pressure with energy costs but who are actually going to their energy provider looking for a payment plan to get them through a tough period. That is replicated across the country because of the increases in energy costs, including electricity costs. That will continue, I suspect, over the summer and into the winter months. However, we have a budget coming up in October and the Minister for Finance is leaving all options open in terms of what can be done. That may include more supports for people to install solar panels, more options for retrofitting or direct support payments during the winter period. We have done it before during other crises and are lucky that we are in a position to do so again because we have a surplus that we can choose to spend on those who are most vulnerable and need most support. The Minister for Finance has outlined in the Dáil Chamber his openness and willingness to ensure that the budget in October meets the needs and demands of people through the winter months.

Senator Clonan spoke about the Minister for Defence, Deputy McEntee. I disagree with him when he says that she is totally out of her depth. He quoted something she said in support of Ukraine. I presume he supports the Minister's statement. He did not say so but went off on a different tangent. For the last four and a half years, this country has been totally supportive of Ukraine. We welcomed the fact that, because of recent elections in Hungary, the EU is now able to give a €90 billion package to Ukraine that was being held up by the former Prime Minister of Hungary. It is important to call out what happened last night in Ukraine in terms of the number of attacks.

We were given a false sense of security that there was going to be a three-day ceasefire but, clearly, that has not happened. When that is the case or when a ceasefire is broken, there is a responsibility on the Minister for foreign affairs to express on behalf of the people of Ireland our outrage that, in this case, so many bombs are landing on people in Ukraine. It is right and proper that this was done.

Senator Lynch raised the announcement last night by the European Union in relation to Brazilian beef and other food not being allowed in from 3 September. As she rightly outlined, this is a very good example of why there was caution within the Government, as I mentioned earlier, in terms of the Mercosur deal. We support trade deals, obviously, but if one of those four countries is not compliant with the requirements, as is the case with Brazil, that proves the case for why we were concerned. The Senator also mentioned, which is important, the investigative work by the IFA and the Irish Farmers Journal in Brazil to highlight these issues before President von der Leyen ever made that decision yesterday. Senator Collins also raised this issue. It is very apt that we ask either the Minister for trade or agriculture to come to the House and speak on the important decision that was made last night.

Senator Cathal Byrne raised the issue of payments for family carers and the 16,000 people in Wexford who receive that payment. It is normally €270 a week but some people, because it is means tested, receive a reduced payment and, unfortunately, some do not receive any payment at all. Thousands of people across the country care for loved ones, whether parents, grandparents or children with disabilities. They are doing that work because the care is for someone they love but that is saving the State a lot of money it otherwise would have to pay through the health service, hospitals and nursing homes. It is important that we in this House always recognise the work carers do. The programme for Government that was put together when the Government was formed includes a commitment to abolish means testing and increase the payment from €270 to €325. Senator Byrne makes a valid case in asking for a timeline for the implementation of that commitment. I am sure everyone in this House and the Lower House is often asked when that measure in the programme for Government will be introduced, given the Government has been in place for more than 18 months and we have not yet seen a timeline for it. It is a very credible request by the Senator that the Minister come here and outline the timeframe for when this will be done. I will ask the Minister's office whether that is possible.

Senator Tully made a really good point in regard to school transport. I do not know whether it is the case, but I do not doubt her for a second, that where the children of medical cardholders go to the school closest to their home, they automatically do not have to pay transport costs. There are changes coming in this area and it would be helpful to have a debate on them. The Senator made the point that if a pupil secures a concessionary ticket and the parent has a medical card, there is a charge for that transport . That seems very unfair. I do not think it would be very costly at all to change that and it should be done. I suggest that Senator Tully raise this as a Commencement matter with the Minister. It seems very unfair that people in that situation have to pay because they have a concessionary ticket.

The Senator also referred to the increased cost of transport to primary school from €50 to €100 and to secondary school from €75 to €150. This was raised a number of weeks ago in a political sense but most people in this House are well aware that there are a lot of school buses across the country that are not full, with spaces being taken but not used on a daily basis. That is because, in effect, the buses were given for free. It means people are missing out who deserve to be on those buses. Although the increase is there, it is important to recognise that we must ensure we have space for people who really need those spaces and not just have them taken up by children who are not using them.

Senator Andrews raised the Dublin city task force, referring in particular to its role in regard to regeneration and housing. I am not too familiar with the areas he talked about but I acknowledge his suggestion of having some sort of consultation with those groups and people in terms of what will be done. The Dublin city task force was established with the idea of regenerating the city centre. It is a good thing to do. In a lot of other cities across the country, people want a task force similar to the Dublin task force to be set up for their city and to have joined-up thinking in terms of how to make our cities the best they can possibly be. I know that is the Senator's intention as well. I understand members of the housing committee are going out to visit one of those sites. The Minister should be playing his part as well in terms of having an open discussion with the residents of that area. The Senator has made a very genuine request and we will contact the Minister's office in that regard. As I said, housing committee members will be visiting some of the sites, which is important.

The final contribution, by Senator Mullen, concerned the publication by the media committee of its report on online safety. We had what might be called a robust discussion at the committee this morning.

We might say it was energetic.

In fairness to the Senator, he made some very valid points. Neither he nor I were at the important committee meeting last Wednesday as we were engaged in business abroad. His concerns are genuine and should not be dismissed, and nor should it be suggested that nobody on the committee is in favour of a ban. That is not the case at all. Senator Mullen outlined his concerns very well this morning. Deputy Carrigy and other members of the committee would agree with him. I am one of those in agreement with him when it comes to some of the issues, including pornography. There is a lot more that can be done. The publication of the report this morning is very important but it is not true that everyone had the same view on the issues. There very much were differing views.

The report is the first step and, as the Cathaoirleach said, we will have an opportunity in this Chamber to debate it. The Minister has decisions to make in his Department. Something needs to be done. We cannot wait for the European Union to act on this. It would be much better if it did so, and did so quickly, but I suspect that will not happen. Therefore, the onus is on the Minister and the Government to publish legislation that will go through the Dáil and this House and will allow for a good debate. There are differing views on the issues and nobody, especially not any of us, is an expert on them. Somebody asked this morning whether there was anyone in the room who had used social media when they were under 16. None of us put our hands up, obviously, but we can see the negative impact such access can have on children. There is an onus on us as legislators to make sure we protect them as much as possible. When that legislation comes to the House, there will be a good opportunity to discuss the issues further.

I welcome to the Gallery the transition-year students from Salesian Secondary College, Pallaskenry, County Limerick, who are guests of Councillor Tommy Hartigan and Deputy Richard O'Donoghue. They are most welcome to Seanad Éireann. If they were getting homework, I would say they should be let off it for the rest of the week but, as transition-year students, I am guessing they do not have any. If they come back next year as guests of Deputy O'Donoghue, they might be excused from homework.

I also welcome the representatives of Fitbug Fitness in Blanchardstown, who are guests of former service officer John Cunningham. They are most welcome to Seanad Éireann and I thank them for being here.