I thank the 11 Senators who made contributions this morning. Senator O'Loughlin aptly spoke about men's mental health after I just went up four flights of stairs to speak here so it was perfect timing when it came to speaking about it, particularly in relation to mental health. It is a real problem for men right across the country. An awful lot of good work is being done by organisations such as See Change or Jigsaw. Jigsaw has been operating in my county of Tipperary over the past number of years and we have seen significant benefit, particularly young people suffering from anxiety and mental health difficulties. The number of people who die by suicide is far too high. If we have seen the benefit of Jigsaw in some counties, we definitely need to see it in others. With such population growth, Kildare is a prime example of a place where that service should be provided

Senator Cathal Byrne spoke about the CLÁR programme, which is a very significant programme, particularly for rural areas right across the country. There is always an opportunity to amend and the Senator mentioned a prime example. A lot of these first responders looked to get large-scale machines or vehicles for use but it is always the day-to-day costs. The Senator used the example of defibrillator pads that cost €300 per use, which can certainly become a large cost after a while, so I will ask the Minister. It would be a good opportunity for the Minister to come in and debate funding for rural areas and in respect of CLÁR in particular.

Senator Keogan spoke about governance and accountability. She mentioned Kerry County Council and data. It is for the county council to decide what data it wants to use so it is not really for us to say. It is for the officials and the members. The Senator also mentioned the derelict property tax, which has been in the news in the past couple of days. The Senator mentioned that it is sidelining local authorities but that is not what it is doing. Local authorities have a challenge in terms of recouping money that is owed to them. Sometimes it can go farther and go into court, which costs the local authority an awful lot of money. The plan from the Government is to, hopefully, move this towards Revenue so that Revenue deals with it as opposed to local authorities. That is what would suit local authorities as well. It will still be the local authorities' decision on what properties would be classed as derelict but it would not be for the local authority to actually follow up and recover that money. It would be for Revenue, which is best placed to do that.

Senator Conor Murphy spoke about Kilmainham Gaol and the hosting of an event. I am surprised the OPW has not come back. I will write to it as Acting Leader of the Seanad to make sure that it does. The Senator outlined how historic Kilmainham Gaol is and how hosting an event would be perfect. I cannot see any reason the OPW would not respond or would not be favourable towards it but I will make sure the Seanad promotes that as much as possible. The Senator also spoke about the unification of the island of Ireland. That is obviously something that garnered a bit of news over the weekend but as he said himself, momentum is growing from all sides. It is not that one side is right and the other side is wrong. It is about what sort of unification we are looking for, which is a long discussion. It is right and proper that people feel free and are open to actually discussing what they are looking for in the future because year on year, it is becoming a bigger issue.

Senator Fitzpatrick spoke about Bloomsday in Dublin, which is obviously a really good event and is internationally known at this stage because of James Joyce. When we have events like this, they bring in tourism and Bloomsday is one example. Bloom was held only a number of weeks ago. These events bring large crowds to the city and it is important that the city is looks as good as possible. It is very frustrating when one walks around the city and sees areas that are derelict, dirty or not maintained to the standard that they should because, whether we like it or not, the city is a reflection on the whole country. As Dublin City Council needs to make sure that things are being looked after and are being kept to a standard that is respectable, I will ask the Minister to contact the chief executive of Dublin City Council to make sure that this could be done to a better extent than is being done at the moment.

Senator Nelson Murray spoke about agricultural shows and the €1 million in funding that goes towards the 26 agricultural shows right across the country. There is always a case to put more funding into those shows. The turnout is very positive every year. I see it myself in Clonmel, where an agricultural show has been going on for years, since well before I was born. The numbers keep increasing every year. It is a really good family event. As the Senator said, money spent promoting these agricultural shows right across the country is money well spent.

The Senator also spoke about the housing infrastructure investment fund, which the Minister, Deputy Browne, and the Minister of State, Deputy John Cummins, announced this morning. Over €800 million in funding was announced this morning, essentially to speed up the delivery of housing by speeding up infrastructure projects right across the country. I believe 82 projects were announced this morning. I hope that, as a result of the speeding up of these projects, we are going to see the delivery of housing speeding up. An estimated 200,000 houses could be built in a quicker timeframe because of these projects. This morning's announcement related to the first call. It is really welcome. It may be a good opportunity to have the Minister for housing come to the House to outline exactly what this will do and where we will go from here.

Senator Clonan congratulated Senator Costello on the approval of the drug givinostat, which is very welcome. It is great to have that recognition from both sides. Senator Clonan is always very good about that. This obviously strengthens the case for the approval of Skyclarys for Friedreich's ataxia. All of these matters are dealt with individually between the HSE and the drug companies. It can sometimes take some time to do it. It can sometimes depend on when the drug company applied to sell the product in Ireland. Sometimes the HSE and the Department of Health actually have to ask the drug company whether it is willing to sell it in Ireland. That process can take some time because Ireland is obviously not the biggest country in the world and coming here is not the first priority when the drug has approval in other countries. However, for obvious reasons, it is important that we try to get drugs that have been approved in like-minded countries to our own people as quickly as possible.

Senator Cosgrove spoke about funding for local government. We are all being lobbied by the directors of services and roads in every county council. You sometimes do not think about it but, once you are told, it is very obvious. Councillors in local authorities agreed to put these road projects that are meant to be happening, whether they are small road maintenance projects, LIS projects or big road projects, on the 2026 or 2027 budget a year or two years ago. However, when the authority goes to complete them, the cost is much higher than expected. I know the Department of housing is very much aware of the issue. These authorities need extra funding to deliver these projects. Particularly in rural areas, whether in Sligo or anywhere else, simple road maintenance is really important for people. I know this comes from a very genuine place. In every local authority, the directors of roads and services are very worried that they will not be able to deliver the projects they had promised to deliver and that the councillors had promised to their communities. They are on a list for delivery so the local communities expect them to be delivered. I will contact the Minister's office to see if it is possible for more funding to be put in place for local authorities.

Senator Comyn also spoke about this morning's announcement of the housing infrastructure fund. A significant amount of money, €40 million, is going to Louth, where we hope it will deliver 3,000 much-needed houses. An awful lot of people are looking to live in that area, which is just outside Dublin. One of the most frustrating things for people is when a developer or builder wants to build but the infrastructure, whether water, wastewater or roads, is not there. We now have a pathway for those big developments to be built and for homes to be delivered. That is really important.

The Senator also mentioned Louth beating Armagh and Dublin. As a Tipperary person, I do not think we should be talking about the GAA any more this year so I will not. However, I will talk about the sports capital grant, which is obviously very important. The Minister is keen to deliver on that this year.

That is always beneficial to communities around the country.

Senator Andrews spoke about Cape Verde. It was an amazing win yesterday. I was watching it with my two sons. They thought that we were meant to be cheering for Spain because I had told them that Spain might win the World Cup, but as the game went on, I kept saying that we needed to support this team. It is a small country with one fellow from Ireland. It is an amazing achievement. It gives that uplift that you get from the World Cup, where small countries - we have been there before - can pull off these amazing achievements and successes. It is really good to see. Congratulations to Pico Lopes. His block in the last couple of minutes was phenomenal. It is great for the supporters and for the tournament in general, because there are issues with this tournament and where it is on. It is great for the sport.

The Senator also referred to the EU Presidency. The EU Presidency is a really positive thing for the country. This is the eighth time since we have been a member of the EU that we are hosting it. An awful lot of work goes into delivering that. Obviously, it costs a significant amount of money to do it, but it is not like a sports event or other event where we are trying to get the money back. This is an investment in promoting Ireland across Europe. I would always say in relation to membership of Europe that we have gained more financially than we have had to put in. There are a lot of things. While the Senator talks about it being in a bubble, the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, is not a bubble, and it is massive for farmers. The fisheries deal is important for fishermen. The multi-annual financial framework, MFF, deals with funding right across Europe and needs to be delivered during the Irish Presidency. Most countries want it and feel that it has to be delivered during the Irish Presidency because of our experience of holding the Presidency. I understand the narrative from the Senator, but many people in this country, particularly farmers, need to be sure that our Ministers can deliver on key funding structures to support them over the next couple of years. As we hold the EU Presidency, it is the best chance to get a good deal that supports the Irish people.

Senator Mullen spoke about what seems to be a very quick decision by the UK to restrict access for under-16s. This comes on the back of a number of things that have happened in the UK in the last week or two. As the Senator knows, we serve on the media and sport committee. It produced a report that did not recommend this, although we all have separate views on it. The Senator is right that it is how it is done and delivered that is important. He made the point that it should be the responsibility of the social media companies to restrict access. I do not think the Senator or I fully believes that they would actually do it, or that it could be delivered on. I am not a tech genius, but I am told it is very easy to get around this. However, I would make the point that even if it is very tricky to get around or is hard to implement, that does not mean we should not do it. It is difficult.

We can all see that social media is addictive, in particular for young people. When we are talking about under-16s, it can even be addictive for extremely young people if they can get their hands on it. We need to do whatever we can to prevent that as much as possible at a younger age, and have kids out playing sports, colouring or doing whatever they want to do.

Can we have statements in the House with the Minister?

I can contact the Department to see if he is willing to come in for statements. We have four or five weeks left before the recess, but I will put that on the agenda, if I can.