I call the Leader to respond to the Order of Business.

I thank all of the Senators for their contributions. Senator O'Loughlin spoke about Freehold, New Jersey, which is the hometown of Bruce Springsteen and its connection to the constituency she lives in. A delegation visited there last week and there is a festival happening, which is very good for the area.

She also spoke about Temple Street and the article written last week stating that e-scooters were the greatest cause of life-threatening injuries to children. Legislation has been put in place but if gardaí need more enforcement powers, then that is very important. That there are six people in ICU, with four of them on life support machines, and all of them young children is just not acceptable. Any parent would have a fear of a child being on an e-scooter because of what could happen. We will try to have a debate after the summer on that.

Senator Boyle spoke about Irish Water and the work that Councillor Michael Boyle was doing in the area. It is incredibly frustrating. Uisce Éireann has got a significant amount of funding. That has been increased over the last number of months to increase the speed of project delivery. There has always been a communication issue. We had Uisce Éireann in the building only a week or two ago to talk about things that needed to be done. Donegal obviously needs to be prioritised for investment, but it is no good when the Senator cannot tell the community when something will be done and what the timeline is for when they will see improvements. What causes the real frustration and anger the Senator talked about is the lack of knowing, so I accept that we need to do more on that.

Senator Clonan spoke about Ruby Daly. Everyone is looking at the weather and saying it is beautiful and that it is great to be outside, but there are always challenges for people with accessibility and disability issues. As the Senator said, if Galway County Council and Galway City Council have invested in trying to support people so that they are able to spend some time on the beach, it seems strange to me that the councils are not using that equipment.

I will follow up with my colleagues from that constituency, particularly the Minister for education, Deputy Naughton, to see what the situation is because access to a beach should not be denied to anyone in this country. We only get a couple of days a year to enjoy it and, certainly, everyone should be able to enjoy it and do so safely.

In relation to the defence troika, as the Senator called them, I understand where he is coming from and, obviously, we will have debates over the next couple of months in this House in relation to defence and possible changes in defence. I do not think there is any European country at the moment that is able to defend itself unilaterally. Every country in the world brings in support. I remember only a couple of months ago, one of the questions in this Chamber, although not by Senator Clonan, was about how we are going to defend ourselves during the EU Presidency because we cannot do it ourselves. That all being said, the Senator has legitimate concerns and legitimate questions that we need to know. I will talk to the Minister for foreign affairs and for Defence and we will see what can be done but, obviously, it is an important time for Ireland during this Presidency and we need to make sure people are safe during that. I will talk to the Minister about it.

Senator Murphy spoke in terms of the reunification Bill. There was a briefing this morning as well. I think most people from all political parties were there. Deputy Currie was there on behalf of Fine Gael. I know there was good engagement on that. There is a Bill before the Dáil tomorrow on it and I suspect there will be a vote on that. We are all coming from the same perspective that we want reunification and we want a pathway. We want all groups and organisations and people from different backgrounds to see a future for them in that reunification. Whether this legislation or having a citizens' assembly is the way to go is a very complex question. Reunification is not asking whether people want reunification or not. Everyone can answer that easily. It is about how we get there and how we support all communities in that reunification. It is quite complex. Citizens’ assemblies have been successful in other parts but this is quite different. I am not sure if that would work but, certainly, there will be a good debate on it.

Senator Noonan spoke about the Ireland land use review. It is important that the Minister for agriculture comes in and has a debate on that in the autumn. As the Senator said, that is a timely time to do it. There are a lot of changes happening. We will have the planning Bill coming through next week, which obviously has an impact on rural Ireland. It is part of the commitment made in the programme for Government that we would change the planning laws. Obviously, not everyone will agree with it but it is important that we bring that forward next week. In terms of the land use review, however, it is important that we have a debate with the Minister. The Senator also spoke in relation to Irish Water. That delay for a year is obviously going to have an impact on Dublin. Dublin is almost at a crisis point and decisions need to be made quite quickly on that. As the Senator knows from when he worked in the Department of housing, if we are investing and trying to build as many houses as we need to build, obviously, we need the infrastructure there. Water is a key part of that.

Senator Gallagher spoke about EV growth. As he knows, I am well aware of that being an EV driver. A huge number have been registered this year and the charging points are in issue. It has been brought up in this Chamber a number of times. We will have a debate on it in autumn. In relation to the number of different companies and the fact that people have to register with those companies, the one they do not have to register with is ESB. People just have to tap and go. They do not have to register to an app or anything like that. It is a very fair request that all systems should be like that where people do not have to register every time depending on what EV charger they are using. They should just be allowed to tap and go. I will ask the Minister for a for a debate on the wider scheme of it.

Senator Boyhan was at the Clonmel Show on Sunday and we were delighted to welcome him to County Tipperary. I hope he had a great time. He obviously got home safe and sound. He spoke about the case of George Gibney, which has been reported on in the media for a long number of years. I am not sure it is appropriate to speak on it yet since sentencing has not happened but as he said himself, it is important to acknowledge people who went above and beyond in terms trying to find the truth and trying to encourage people to speak out because that is a not an easy thing to do. I acknowledge all the work they did.

Senator Collins asked for debate in terms of Garda numbers. Absolutely, I am more than happy to do that. It is important to do, particularly for rural areas like Limerick and Tipperary.

Obviously, we have increased Garda numbers almost every year since we reopened Temple Street in 2014. The only year it reduced was during Covid, when it was closed. We are looking to get to over 15,000 gardaí, which is a lot; it would be the highest level ever in the State, but it is not enough and we need to do more. While we are investing in new Garda stations like those in Newcastle West and Clonmel, which is very important, we need to ensure we have enough gardaí on the street to protect people. That is an important debate we can have here. Most gardaí working on the EU Presidency are doing so through overtime. It will be the same when the Ryder Cup comes to the Senator's county next year; it will be overtime. Unless there are emergency situations this will not, for the most part, take away from the day-to-day work gardaí do on the ground, which is important for people in the Senator's community to know.

Senator Tully spoke on the cuts to allowances for the Reserve Defence Force members, which obviously has an impact on them and those who retire. There are going to be public sector negotiations and that could be brought in as part of it for discussion. I suggest the Senator put down a commencement matter with the Minister on that. We have committed to reinstating all those cuts that were made during the crash and that is another that should be done.

Senator McCarthy spoke on the number of people who are cutting back on food because of the cost of living and the challenges at present. The 20% referred to in the Barnardos report is a very high percentage, particularly with the impact that has on children as regards food poverty. This is why the Minister for education started a pilot programme last year that is continuing into this year with the summer food programme for children, and more needs to be done in that case. That is why Government has always said this budget in October is a critically important one for targeting financial support to those who are really suffering and challenged by higher prices, whether that is in energy or food costs.

Senator Andrews always asks me the best questions. Pico Lopes - what a legend. He has been phenomenal. I have been supporting Argentina the whole way through because of Messi, whom I am in awe of, but that night I had to support Lopes. He is an inspiration to people right across the country and shows that if you keep working hard, do the right things and keep being professional, your time will come. He is 34 now but, as his manager said during the week, if he was 20, they would be making €10 million out of him after his performances in the World Cup. However, this goes to Senator Andrews's wider point that Pico is an example of what can be achieved if we invest in football. In fairness to the FAI, it has a long-term eight- or ten-year plan for investment in the League of Ireland, setting up 26 centre of excellence clubs where we can invest. As the Senator knows, we have an issue with Brexit in that young kids cannot go to the UK now until they are 18, so they need top quality coaching right up until then. We, alongside the FAI, need to invest in that. I know it is about reaching out to groups across the world with regard to investing in Irish soccer. However, the Government also needs to play its role. That €3.5 million is the first of hopefully eight investments over the next eight budgets and I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, because of the Senator and I pressuring him as much as we can, will ensure that investment goes into it. No matter what sport it is, investment in sport is always money well spent.

Senator Sarah O'Reilly spoke on the return scheme. One of the biggest problems people find with the scheme is that it does not work sometimes. There are also issues regarding only being able to use the deposit in the shop where you returning the cans or bottles. There are also some antisocial behaviour issues. In Cashel, a bin was damaged significantly because people were trying to get cans and bottles out of it to return. The intention of it is right. It is important that people are recycling, for obvious reasons, and we cannot rely on people just doing it at home, even though the process is the exact same. We need to ensure it is done right and properly. It is there for the very good reason of our environment. In my view, it is certainly not there to line the pockets of CEOs or supplement the wages of people working in that area. In fairness, I do not think that is the intention at all.

Senator Harmon spoke on the Bessborough mother and baby home and the planning application for 140 apartments in the area.

I am not sure how to respond to her views on the Taoiseach but obviously all planning decisions are made by the council. Even a Taoiseach or Minister for planning cannot get involved in planning decisions. That being said, he did say it is a matter for the city council. It could have made a CPO on it. It is a very sensitive topic. I do not think it is appropriate for me as I would not have the same information as the Senator or people from that constituency to speak on it but it seems appropriate that the council would have played a more leading role in something that has a long-lasting impact on people in that community.

Senator Scahill spoke in relation to the new church car park built just outside Strokestown - I missed the name of the village.

Scramoge.

He mentioned a really good point in terms of financial support and the role Tidy Towns played in fundraising but a lot of renewable energy companies invest in local communities where they have wind farms to support them. This is a prime example. More should be highlighted. The companies do it themselves but I am not sure they highlight it enough. I know of a Cork company that has wind farms in Tipperary. It invests in local communities but does not highlight it too much. It is a significant amount of money for the likes of the communities the Senator spoke about. As he requested, we will have a debate on it after the summer. It is important. We set up the Department of rural affairs which has been a real success in terms capital funding. It is all well and good having capital funding but when you cannot maintain it afterwards, that is a real issue. We now need to look at how we can make sure operational costs can be supported whether through the council or the Department. There is no point in putting capital funding into something that will then have to close five or ten years later because operational costs are too high. We will try to have a debate on that when we come back.