The Order of Business is No. 1, address to Seanad Éireann by MEPs representing the European Parliament Dublin constituency, to be taken at 2 p.m., in accordance with the amendments set out in the motion passed by the House on 22 September 2026; and No. 68(6), Private Members' business, motion regarding childcare, to be taken at 5.30 p.m., with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours.

Having just come from the Chambers Ireland briefing on businesses, I want to take the opportunity to wish the new Kildare Chamber CEO, Cliodhna O'Byrne, well. We have a very active chamber. It does an excellent job under the leadership of Ruth Murphy and it excels in representing the many businesses we have, small as well as large. It is very conscious of the cost of business and what we need to do to support our indigenous businesses in particular. I note the publication during the summer of the cost of business advisory forum report, which set out 63 recommendations to boost competitiveness and cut costs. The report is very practical. Key actionable priorities were set out by the Department, including cutting administrative red tape and enhancing financial competition. The forum said it would meet in another six months to look for progress but we need to have a debate in this House with the Minister, Deputy Burke. This is really important and I think we would all support it.

Yesterday, I hosted a briefing in the audiovisual room with Age Alliance Ireland. This is a really strong organisation which consists of eight different groups that work with older people both on an individual basis and collectively. One thing that really stood out to me was that there are only two specialist fall clinics for the whole of Ireland. Over 62,000 older adults need medical care for falls annually, yet one in five has no access to a clinic. The Minister and the HSE urgently need to look at that care gap. As we all know, a fall for an older person is not just a minor medical emergency. It can be so much more and can be life altering. I would like the opportunity to have a debate with the Minister of State with responsibility for older people or the Minister for Health.

Having recently battled shingles during the recess, I can personally attest to just how debilitating and painful this illness can be. My immediate priority is to get the shingles vaccine as soon as I can, but I have to wait 12 months to make sure that I am protected against a recurrence. My experience underscores the very pressing need we should have to expand our preventative healthcare for older people. We do really well with our child immunisation scheme but we do not do so well for adults. Prior to this, I had been lobbying for a shingles vaccination for over 65s, particularly because of the 20% extra protection against dementia it can provide, but RSV is also really important and we need to have a debate on that.

I would like to advocate for the introduction of further supports for third-level students, in particular for those who are commuting long distances to their local college or university. I am a former students' union president myself. I have seen first hand trying to help students in very difficult financial situations. It puts a huge pressure on all the family when someone goes to college. It is obviously a great moment of pride and experience in their life but it puts a lot of challenges and pressures on the whole family. The rising cost and lack of provision of accommodation means there are additional pressures on families, households and students. In my own case in Mayo, we have many students travelling to Galway, Sligo and other areas. The transport cost on a daily basis is very significant. That is why I am advocating for and encouraging the Government to consider a free travel pass for students who are travelling long distances and can demonstrate they do not have accommodation. A pilot programme could be done through the students' unions or something done to help encourage and take some of the burden off students who are under difficult financial pressure and commuting daily to universities around the country. It would be a very positive outcome if it could be achieved and accommodated within the budget cycle.

My second point is on the funding for the local improvement scheme, LIS. Anyone who has served as a county councillor will know the importance of the scheme in our rural areas. It is always oversubscribed and is of huge benefit to those who avail of it. People really appreciate it. It is bread-and-butter basic work and delivery for communities, rural communities, farmers and people in rural areas. From speaking to many county councillors, I know they would all like to see more funding for the LIS. This comes up regularly. I met county councillors in Mayo recently. The overwhelming ask among everything else was that more funding would be made available for the LIS road scheme. I ask again that ahead of the budget, the Government provide additional funding through the relevant Ministries to make sure that local authorities are well resourced and funded to make sure that we look after people in rural areas who are looking for roads to be done under the LIS. I would appreciate support on that.

I will mention a recent ESRI report, published earlier this month, that describes how 200,000 children in Ireland are living below the poverty line. According to the report, when housing costs are taken into account, that brings the figure to over 260,000. This happened in a year when the average income went up by 4% and at the very top it went up by 7%. As Community Foundation Ireland recently said, "a rising tide does not lift all boats." The youngest children are hit the hardest. When we take into account housing costs, poverty in families whose youngest child is five or under has increased from 20% to over 26%, so that is one in four children. The ESRI has found that most parents are shielding their children by going without, but one in ten children are going without basic necessities that their classmates take for granted. I have brought this up many times in the House, but to have had 5,700 children on the emergency accommodation list in July was unforgivable.

The House will know I have worked in the homelessness sector for over 20 years and I have seen the necessity of food banks. I have seen families come down to our homeless café, the Lighthouse on Pearse Street. These are decent, ordinary families but they need to make ends meet, so we have to help them. I want to acknowledge the teachers, family support workers and homeless services that are holding these children up every day. However, we cannot make up an income gap. Only the Government can. The Government's target is to cut child poverty from the present 8% to 3% by 2030. The ESRI points out that at the moment, we are very far from that.

However, the ESRI has proposed a solution. It has suggested a means-tested second tier of child benefit. The ESRI says this would reduce child poverty more effectively per euro than increasing existing supports because many low-income families are not eligible to even take up the new increased supports. The budget is on 6 October, 13 days from now, so I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Calleary, to the House before budget day to ask him if a second tier of child benefit will be considered in budget 2027. If not, what will get us from the current 8% to 3%? Last year's budget committed €681 million to cutting VAT on hospitality. I love a nice coffee and a nice toastie but it should never come at the expense of supporting children. A child who is five today will be nine in 2030, so childhood does not wait for the target.

Prosperity that skips children is not prosperity, it will just be a good average. I ask the Leader to consider that.

I have raised the issues and challenges faced by cross-Border workers many times in the Seanad Chamber. They are a significant impediment to the growing all-Ireland economy and the prosperity across the island that we wish to see. Those challenges have been exacerbated by the Brexit experience, by the fact that the North was taken out of the European Union by the British Government against its own democratic wishes. The pandemic and the change in working conditions and arrangements have also added to some of the challenges. I have proposed that the Seanad Public Consultation Committee would do a consultation on a range of matters facing cross-Border workers. As part of the British-Irish summit in March, there was a commitment to look at the double taxation convention. I am pleased that my colleague, Caoimhe Archibald MLA, the Minister for the economy in the North has offered her support to this project to try to find some relief for cross-Border workers. I am pleased to hear from the British Treasury that a new convention is imminent. It will contain bespoke provisions for cross-Border workers, which are intended to provide greater certainty for workers and employers, reduce the need to engage with both tax administrations and lessen the payroll, reporting and double taxation relief burdens that can arise under the current arrangements. The plan is that this should make it easier for employers to offer flexible cross-Border working arrangements and reduce any burdens from tax administrations as a barrier to labour mobility. This is good news and I very much welcome it. We have been pressing for it for some time. The Government had committed over many years to making progress in this area. I am pleased work has been done with Treasury to try to move the issue forward. Something which is a significant impediment to developing the all-Ireland economy is finally being tackled, with real progress being reported. Of course, there are much wider issues than simply taxation. There are issues with accessing social protection, recognition of qualifications, and workers' rights. I have proposed that the Seanad Public Consultation Committee would do a piece of work examining some of the issues that arise from this. Nonetheless, it will be very welcome news to people who do work North to South, or South to North, that progress is being made by both Governments on this. I ask the Leader to request the Minister for Finance to come before the Seanad at the earliest opportunity to give us an update on these matters and what more can be done. There was a plan to look at this double taxation issue as a forerunner to many other matters being resolved. I am keen to see further progress in this regard.

I want to raise the serious concern around the glacial pace at which the new mother and baby mental health unit is progressing. We have reporting today from The Journal that nearly ten years after the unit was first recommended in 2017, a decision has yet to be made on where to locate the unit on the grounds of St. Vincent's. That is almost ten years, which is completely unacceptable. It is also an indictment of the State's approach and attitude to maternal mental health. Multiple feasibility studies have been conducted yet there is no progress on a location. It is really beyond belief. It is a sign that we are once again failing women and mothers in Ireland. The establishment of a fully resourced, multidisciplinary mental health unit was an explicit promise in the national maternity strategy published a decade ago. The absence of this unit means the Government is continuing to fail pregnant women and new mothers with mental health difficulties. It means that women experiencing severe mental health issues during pregnancy or post-partum are often treated in general adult psychiatric settings. It means those women are separated from their babies. Despite perinatal mental health difficulties affecting up to one in five women during pregnancy and in the first year after birth, perinatal care in Ireland remains horribly under-developed. I repeat the figure of one in five. Reports suggest women in crisis wait over a month for a first appointment, with others having to drive hours and hours to be seen by one of the only six specialist hubs in the State. Those living in rural or harder to reach areas have to drive hours to access this, with their baby in tow. Further reporting from The Journal notes that hospitals and specialist perinatal mental health services are having to restrict their acceptance criteria due to increased demand. Critical gaps in support mean that women are falling through the cracks and we know this care is actually life-saving. I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, at her meeting with the HSE and stakeholders this month, to do everything within the Government's power to expedite the delivery of this unit. It is incredibly long overdue.

We also need a more holistic approach to post-natal care in Ireland more generally, in line with the Year of Care campaign which has been calling for year-long, comprehensive post-natal support for mothers. Without this, we are not doing enough for new mothers and their children in Ireland. It is the glacial pace of so many of these things. We have good commitments around women's healthcare but their implementation is so incredibly slow. We are 50% of the population; we deserve access to the best. We keep reading about how well the country is doing, our great tax draw-downs and fantastic things, yet these basics, the bread-and-butter care that every woman in Ireland deserves, are not being delivered. I would love to have a debate around that issue.

I want to raise the growing problem of illegal dumping across the Dublin South-West area. Over the past couple of weeks in particular we have seen significant amounts of waste being dumped in our communities on housing estates. One pattern that is becoming increasingly noticeable is the use of skip bags. Only yesterday, a large skip bag filled with waste was dumped close to houses in Aylesbury. This morning I got a report of a skip bag that was burned on an estate in Tallaght-Belgard. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been getting reports of dumped skip bags in areas such as Knocklyon, Springfield, Firhouse, and Kilnamanagh. These are all areas where the residents work tirelessly to keep the standards high and their communities really clean. To those dumping, shame on them. They are undoing the really hard work of residents.

We need to look at regulation of skip bags themselves. These bags are relatively inexpensive and can hold a substantial amount of waste. Unlike hiring a conventional skip, a person can purchase a skip bag from a retail outlet without creating a clear record linking the bag to the purchaser. Two changes should be examined. Skip bags should have to be registered and booked for collection by an authorised waste collector in a similar manner to a conventional skip. Second, every skip bag sold should have a unique barcode or identification number with sufficient traceability to identify the purchaser or registered user if that bag subsequently turns up dumped illegally. At present, the council staff investigate dumped material for evidence but it can be hard if there is no personal information. The issue of illegal dumping in our areas and communities warrants a debate with the Minister. I call on the Minister to come into the House to discuss the scourge of illegal dumping in our areas.

I fully support the comments of my colleague Senator Duffy on local improvement schemes. Every local councillor in Donegal would feel the same; it is all about getting more money for lanes, which are important to the people of Donegal, as we know. Another issue I want to take up today is Irish Water. Through the summer my office was busy, as were those of the councillors of every party all over Donegal, dealing with problems with Irish Water, particularly in Inishowen, Burnfoot, Teelin, Copany, Clogher and Leghowney to name but a few. The staff on the ground are absolutely excellent when we get them. We can ring them and they are out doing the job. The infrastructure we have in Donegal is ancient and really needs to be prioritised. I ask to get a Minister in here to have a debate on Irish Water and its priorities moving forward. Where does Donegal stand on the priority list? What is the list of works that need to be done for Donegal? It is crucial and people deserve water. We are so lucky we have the Wild Atlantic Way now and a lot of tourists. It is great that they are coming in the summer time but they do not have water to flush toilets. It is an urgent issue that we really need to address.

I wish the Taoiseach, and indeed the Minister, Deputy McEntee well in New York.

I was thinking of that this morning and of the significance in terms of our migration and immigration policy, our history of forced emigration, how families were forced to leave here, and the reception they may have received in Liverpool, London, Boston, Manhattan or New York. Then I thought what a difference. We would have seen, or people would have known and reported sightings in London at guesthouses of certain signs. A father and his son of 17 were walking in London and they saw a sign that said "No pets, no blacks and no Irish". The 17-year-old son was also looking for work and asked what all that meant and the father really could not communicate. There was that great sense of anxiety and disappointment. How do you explain to a 17-year-old with aspirations and dreams that this is what is happening? We know what happened to the many people who did not survive the coffin ships that went to New York, where the Taoiseach will be today, and other places. We know how many of those people were put into various categories and how some were rejected and turned back to the sea.

You could ask what we have learned from all that and how it impacts on us today, as people with a similar plight who have been forced to leave their countries come to Ireland. What reception do we give them? I will leave the House with that thought. It is not a very good one. It is not one where we can stand up with a good track record. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, will be going to the site of the Twin Towers today or tomorrow. She will be laying a wreath and paying respect on behalf of the Government. One of the things she will see there is the massive place of so many Irish names of people who were at the front line of the emergency services on that terrible day. Again, there is that link between the Irish and America. We have a lot to learn. I wish the Taoiseach well in his engagement with the Mayor of New York and others and I have no doubt he will do a great service.

I will finish by asking about something which I know is of huge interest to the Leader. We need to address the matter of the undocumented Irish in America. I hope that will be raised by the Taoiseach and the Minister for foreign affairs and I ask that we prioritise a debate on the undocumented Irish who cannot return home even if they want to. They cannot come home with dollars in their pocket because they are undocumented. What works here and is applied here must be applied there. Let us have a bigger and a more open heart. Let us think about the Irish who are trapped outside this country, and those from so many other countries who are fleeing those countries, are trapped and not necessarily getting a warm reception, based on the experience we have had ourselves.

Unfortunately, I could not be here yesterday so I want to be associated with the wishes of sympathy to the Bonner family and to my friend and colleague Senator Craughwell on the passing of his wife. Comhbhrón ó chroí leat, a chara.

I raise the possibility of the Leader organising a debate with the Minister for agriculture on a couple of issues that have come to the fore over the summer. One is the decision by Brittany Ferries to cease the transportation of live animals, which is a vital pathway for our calf trade to continental Europe. This will show itself as a major issue with the calving season commencing this autumn and especially next spring. The Minister might come to the House and fill us in on where the alternatives are on that.

The other matter comes on the back of what was a fantastic summer weather-wise. It was not fantastic for everybody as we have a serious problem with drought - not the failure of crops but a lack of yield as well as grass burning up. It is from Portlaoise down. The south of the country seems to be the problem. There was a recent Teagasc survey on fodder for the coming winter and the result of that is there is enough fodder in the country to cover the winter but it may not be located where it is needed. We may need to introduce a transportation scheme or a redistribution scheme of some sort to get the fodder from where it is available to where it is going to be most needed over the coming winter.

Those matters, coupled with the big ticket item of the multi-annual financial framework and ongoing CAP negotiations, mean it would be appropriate for the Minister to brief the House.

I too was not available yesterday but I would like to be associated with the condolences to Senator Craughwell on the passing of his wife Helen. May she rest in peace.

There are a number of issues I would like to raise. I could talk about the ongoing difficulties with school transport, the serious concerns across rural Ireland about synthetic and semi-synthetic cannabinoid vapes and the pressures on our National Educational Psychological Service, especially the lack of an educational psychologist available to schools in County Roscommon.

The main matter I wish to raise is women's health and I ask the Leader to facilitate a debate in the House on the subject. Senators Maria Byrne, Costello, Cosgrove, Nelson Murray and Harmon, to name a few, have raised multiple women's health issues but it is also important that men speak about them as well. Women's health affects our wives, daughters, mothers and sisters and it should be a conversation we all participate in, not just the ladies in this House. One particular issue I would like to examine is breast density and BreastCheck. Dense breast tissue can make cancers more difficult to detect on a mammogram and is associated with increased breast cancer risk, yet BreastCheck does not currently measure or report breast density to women.

I also mention something I raised last year following the Young Scientist awards - two remarkable young ladies from Coláiste Mhuire in Ballygar, Zofia and Emma, whose project was entitled "Raising Awareness of Girls’ Menstrual Disorders and Health". Their research looked at conditions like endometriosis which the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, has spent significant time on in recent months. They also looked at PCOS and ovarian cysts. More importantly, they asked young women what they knew and 82% of those surveyed felt menstrual health was not spoken about enough, while 79% wanted to know more about women's reproductive health. That should tell us all something. I am asking for a dedicated debate on women's health. I support Senator Stephenson's call for a debate. Both topics raised this morning could run in conjunction but the debate I am calling for would cover screening, early detection, menstrual and reproductive health, endometriosis and other conditions but also, crucially, education and awareness among both women and men. Women's health should not be regarded as a women-only conversation. It is a health issue and something we can all participate in.

September is Sepsis Awareness Month so I want to raise sepsis awareness, which I have raised before here. It is a really important issue to raise regularly because it is the biggest killer in Ireland and in the world. More people die from it than from heart attacks, AIDS, lung cancer, breast cancer, Covid and car accidents combined. About 20% of people who contract sepsis die from it. About 20% of those are children, so it affects people of all ages. Even those who do not die experience long-term effects that can reoccur over the years.

I commend the work done by North East Sepsis Awareness, NESA, which is a campaign that was launched roughly a year ago. It has done Trojan work since then to raise awareness about sepsis. It was formed by Hannah Tormey and Caithriona Flanagan, both of whom have experience of sepsis within their families. They have attended events and given talks to different organisations. They have done wonderful work and in fact they are doing the HSE's work for it. The HSE needs to be much more proactive. I acknowledge the action on sepsis five-year strategy was launched last week by the Minister and the HSE. I want to be sure the resources are made available to ensure that strategy is implemented between now and 2030 but a lot more needs to be done on the ground to make people aware of the symptoms of sepsis so they can ask for tests or have it considered. More importantly, medical personnel, especially in our emergency departments, need to be aware and need to be constantly asking could this be sepsis, doing the test to see and then taking action if it is.

It would prevent so many deaths. The work of NESA on its own in the last year has prevented deaths. People have come back to NESA and said that because of its campaign, they knew what the symptoms are and were able to stop someone getting seriously ill. I want to commend NESA. I call on the Minister and the HSE to do a lot more on this issue.

I would like to be associated with the expressions of sympathy to our colleague, Senator Craughwell, on the passing of his wife, Helen, and also to the Bonner family. I knew Senator Bonner. May they rest in peace.

I am raising the plight of pubs and publicans. As the Leader is aware, I come from a publican background. More than 2,200 pubs have closed since 2005. That is a decline of 25%. In my county of Limerick, over 40% of pubs have closed. In Dublin that figure is 1%. That 40% versus 1% is a startling figure. The local pub is a social anchor. It is where everything happens, from the GAA after the match to weddings and funerals. It is part of our social fabric. Four people in five believe the Government should take action in protecting our pubs in budget 2027. The cost of doing business has gone up. Energy costs, labour costs and water costs have all gone up for publicans and many are operating on a margin of less than 1%. I accept that excise duty has not increased since 2014 but margins are very tight for many publicans. I am talking about the small rural and local publicans in cities and towns. The 64% of pubs that do not serve food did not benefit from the 9% VAT rate and without targeted fiscal support we risk triggering an avalanche of further closures. The Vintners Federation of Ireland, VFI, has brought forward an on-trade sustainability scheme. It is a targeted tax credit based on verified supply chain costs of draught products capped at €20,000 per premises and it is specifically designed to support smaller, local pubs. The Government already uses tax credits to support film production, digital gaming and unscripted television production. The pub receives nothing. It is something that would be in line with what is happening in other industries. The proposal is not an excise rebate or reduction. It does not alter excise duty and has been specifically designed to comply with the EU alcohol structured directive. I would like for the Leader to support this and contact the Minister, Deputy Burke, and the Government in relation to this. I believe none of us want to see the fabric of society closing down. In France, they are now trying to reopen cafés that have closed down. Once a pub closes, I believe it will never open its doors again so I am looking for the Leader's support.

I want to raise the issue of personal leave for injuries for teachers and special needs assistants, SNAs. I had legislation that was debated on Second Stage in this House that was supported by the Government on Second Stage but we have heard nothing from the Minister for education in relation to this. Thousands of teachers and SNAs are affected if they are injured in the classroom. Many are left without proper pay and supports. Sophie Cole is one example. I have been campaigning alongside her. She was a teacher from Carrigaline in County Cork, and she was left without proper supports and at a financial loss due to her injury in the classroom. I will be bringing my legislation forward. We have not seen any counterproposal from the Government so I am assuming the Government will support my legislation. We absolutely need to get this issue addressed. I have been working with the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, and Forsa trade unions in relation to it also.

I also want to raise this issue, which has been raised here this morning and extensively by my colleague, Senator Nessa Cosgrove, in relation to breast density. Women deserve to know if they have dense breasts. If they have dense breasts, they are more likely to develop cancer. This will often get missed on mammograms. This is about public information. People have a right to know about their own health information. We need to see the Minister act on this. We need a solution where people are getting adequate screening. This is about health, but it is also about life preservation as well. I have been speaking to a woman called Laurna Quirke, who is from Donoughmore in County Cork, in relation to her journey with breast cancer and the fact that her breast density was not detected. We need to act on this and we need to see more action from the Minister for Health.

Yesterday I said I would revisit some of the issues my family faced as my wife faced the end of her life. Helen was an extraordinarily strong person. Once diagnosed, she wanted to ensure that the family was unburdened with respect to making decisions for her. This brought about looking into two things in particular: the enduring power of attorney and the advance health declaration, AHD, form.

Today, I want to speak about the enduring power of attorney. Enduring power of attorney, EPA, is one of the most important legal documents a person can make. Under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015, it allows someone to appoint a trusted person to manage their affairs if they lose capacity in the future. It is fundamentally about dignity, independence and preserving a person's voice in decisions that affect their life. I can assure the Members of the House that when you sit down with a family member to complete these forms, it is devastating stuff you have to deal with. You are talking about the end of life. Any one of us in this room can have a stroke in two minutes and be unable to make a decision ever again. Any one of us can find ourselves unconscious in a hospital and somebody has to make decisions for you. I come from a family of 11 and, God help us, if we had to make a decision for somebody it would take the United Nations to come in and find peace among us. It is a hugely important thing.

However, an enduring power of health form is quite complex. The process involves solicitors, medical assessments, prescribed legal forms, notification requirements and registration with the Decision Support Service, DSS, who I must say are extraordinary people when it comes to filling in this form. The safeguards are important, but they create a lengthy and often costly process for families. There are also significant medical requirements. Capacity must be assessed when the EPA is created and again when it is activated. The activation series can be really problematic. For somebody with dementia, two medical professionals are required to say the person no longer has capacity. A person with dementia can have no capacity now and in an hour's time they can have capacity. So, that creates a huge problem.

Most concerning are the practical barriers. The DSS is experiencing substantial delays, with applications taking months to process. The Law Society has warned that the system is struggling with activation numbers far below those under the previous regime and thousands of applicants are still awaiting completion. Costs can also run into several hundred euro before the EPA is even enforced. Only 8% of the population have an EPA in place. None of this is an argument for removing safeguards. These are about the essentials but when a system designed to protect vulnerable people becomes so slow, expensive and difficult that relatively few citizens have an EPA in place, we must ask whether the balance is right. We need a system that protects people while also making it easier for them to plan for their future. I urge the House to support measures to simplify the process, reduce the delays and ensure that decision support services are there and resourced.

I cannot begin to say how important it is. I see the Visitors Gallery is full today. I am speaking to those present today and about their friends and relatives. I cannot begin to explain how important it is to have an AHD in place and to have an EPA. When the time comes, which will come to us all, when you are incapable of making a decision on your own, it is vitally important that you have somebody you trust to make those decisions for you. The AHD form, which I will deal with tomorrow, is massively important when it comes to how you will be treated in the final days of your life. I cannot begin to explain the courage my wife showed as she faced the end of her life.

I pray she rests in peace and thank her for the strength she had as she departed.

I thank the Senator. Again, condolences on your sad loss.

I apologise for going over time.

You are grand. Anois, an Seanadóir Andrews.

I want to raise serious questions about the Irish Wheelchair Association, IWA, and IWA-Sport's decision to send an Irish wheelchair basketball team to the European championships division B in Switzerland where Ireland is due to play Israel. This team did not qualify for this tournament. Ireland was invited. It could have easily refused. I cannot imagine what the officials were thinking when they accepted this particular invite. The IWA said its board unanimously approved participation following a robust process. However, basic questions remain unanswered. When was Ireland invited? When did the IWA know Israel was participating? What alternatives were considered, including declining the invitation? What external advice was sought? The IWA has responded by citing the confidentiality of board discussions, but this is a major national charity receiving significant public funding. Board confidentiality cannot be used as a blanket response to legitimate questions about how significant decisions were made.

There are also serious questions about fundraising for this invite. The public was asked to financially support Ireland's participation yet the original fundraising page merely stated that Ireland would compete against three other nations. It did not name Israel as one of those three nations. Only after I challenged this omission was the page amended. That raises serious and legitimate questions about whether there was an element of deception in how funds were sought. If the IWA rejects that suggestion, it should explain why Israel was initially omitted.

There is an important equality issue here as well. This issue should not receive less scrutiny because it is a wheelchair basketball team rather than a football team. Disability sports should not be patronised or held to a different standard. The Stop the Game campaign is challenging Ireland's football fixtures against Israel. This deserves the same seriousness and scrutiny we would expect if it involved the FAI and a senior football team. Meanwhile, more than 900 wheelchairs donated for injured and disabled children in Gaza are sitting in Jordan, unable to reach them amid Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries.

The IWA provides essential services, partly because of gaps in State provision. That does not absolve the Government from questioning and challenging the IWA. I am asking the Minister with responsibility for sport to seek answers from the IWA and IWA-Sport. Public funding must come with public accountability. If this process was genuinely robust, the IWA would be able to explain what that process was.

I thank the Senator. That might be an issue for a Commencement matter.

Yesterday, there was a report by the National Youth Council of Ireland, NYCI, that found that seven out of ten young people feel they want to leave Ireland. Those figures are not just a lifestyle choice, which is very obvious from the research it did. It previously carried out research that found that nine out of ten young people feel the employment opportunities are not there for them, which is a shocking statistic. The NYCI did that report and I hope it will be considered in the budget. We could have a debate around this but particularly about keeping young people in our country. I introduced a Bill last year on the abolition of some minimum rates of pay, but unfortunately it was shot down. One of the reasons that is cited in this recent report is pay. Because of the cost-of-living crisis, young people feel they have no quality of life here because they are on low wages. That is one thing for which they are calling. Another thing they are calling for in this report is that the lower rates of jobseeker's allowance for underage groups would be the same so that everyone would have the same rate of pay for jobseeker's allowance. They also called for free public transport for under-25s. I think these are very reasonable measures. We can see the success of targeted measures. Credit has to be given for targeting free public transport for those aged under eight. That worked really well. We have an opportunity here to revisit the Bill I brought in about the abolition of sub-minimum rates of pay for young people. Trade unions are behind this. This statistic shows that young people are choosing to live abroad because the wages are not meeting the cost of housing and cost of living here. We have to acknowledge that in this House. I would love to have further debate about it.

I, too, want to raise the issue The Irish Times covered, and which my colleague has covered as well, of the tens of thousands of Irish people who are considering emigration. In February of last year, I raised the alarm bell on this issue and since then, well over 62,000 people have left the country. Let me say that again; it is over 62,000. That is the population of Drogheda or Dundalk. In fact, let me give the Leader another visual. We were all touched this year to see the images of Mayo winning the Sam Maguire Cup and the crowds in Croke Park cheering and singing. Now, I want the Leader to imagine Croke Park empty and silent because that is the number of people who have left in the past year alone. That is the number of people we have failed. Is this an abject failure by the Government? Let me be absolutely clear; it is. If we have a bumper surplus budget and if GDP and growth are up, why in God's name is this happening? We have failed young people on housing. We have failed to develop a real economy in industries that can employ them. We have failed to build liveable towns and cities where they can work and raise families. Ultimately, we have failed to deliver a liveable nation. On the flip side, when we question the open-door policy madness our Government calls an immigration policy, we are told that we need workers. We had the workers. As many as 600,000 working Irish people have left the State in the last two decades. These were mostly educated young people on whose education and training we spent billions of euro, and what do we do? We happily ask them to live with their parents until they are 40 if they are not happy to have their pay cheques extorted by rents and high bills. We say, "If you don't like it, tough - pack your bags and leave". We could do a hell of a lot better for our young people in this nation. We certainly need to do that because we are losing them. We are paying our education system to take our young people out of this country. What is happening is scandalous.

As the Leader knows, I have stood many times in this Chamber and argued and advocated to reduce the cost of petrol and diesel. I stood in Foynes for five days with the protesters. I want to focus on home heating oil today. There was a debate in the Dáil yesterday and my colleague, Deputy Doherty, brought legislation through.

Home heating oil has never been reduced. Not one cent has ever come off it. It disproportionately affects rural Ireland because in rural Ireland, there is no other choice. There is no gas network. People cannot hook up to a grid. A lovely lady came into my office last week who I am going to call "Margaret". She lives in County Limerick. She has an adult child with disabilities. She runs her house on home heating oil but she has no immersion switch. Her home heating oil has to do all year for hot water and heat. As Members can imagine, when people have a child with disabilities, they need a little bit extra in the house. I am quite happy to wrap a blanket around myself if I get cold, but some people need it. They have to have that heat even just for running a bath. The oil is on all the time to heat the water, wash the dishes, run a bath and heat the home. She cried in my office because she just cannot afford to put any more oil into her house. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see this.

I am asking and pleading. There is still time because the vote in the Dáil is not until this evening. I ask the Leader to go to the Government TDs and backbenchers, the Minister's backbenchers and Independents, and ask them to just do the right thing. I have heard about how the budget is in two weeks’ time. I really hope something is done in the budget, but I would also hope that if something is to be done in the budget - it is only two weeks away - we tell the people so that they do not go and spend every penny they have in the bank today getting oil because it is nearly gone. Tell them that in two weeks’ time, there is going to be a reduction. I have a feeling it is not going to be enough. I plead with the Leader today to do the right thing. How can he go back to his constituency on Thursday evening or Friday and say, "I am sorry; you are still going to pay". A fill of oil went up €80 overnight. It just cannot keep going up. People cannot afford it. Again, I am sorry; it is disproportionate when it comes to rural Ireland because there is no other choice.

I, too, want to talk about energy costs today. Ireland has the highest electricity prices in Europe. Families are feeling it every time a bill comes through the door.

Where is the Minister for energy? He has not met the four largest energy suppliers in Ireland in the past year. He met Electric Ireland, Bord Gáis, SSE Airtricity and Energia once in September 2025. That needs to be addressed. Energy costs are putting enormous pressure on households. The Minister should sit across the table from these companies and ask what is driving the prices and what can be done about them. Is it too much to expect that from a Minister for energy?

The other question I would put to him is: why are ordinary households are being asked to carry the cost of an energy system increasingly geared towards massive data centres? Data centres used up 22% of Ireland's metered electricity in 2024. That is more electricity than every urban household in the country combined. Unlike normal households, data centres get a cheaper commercial rate of electricity. If a family keeps a shower going for five minutes, they have to pay for it, but the more energy gobbled up by the data centres the better rate they get. The Government is essentially saying to households, "Here is your electricity bill and here is the bill for the Silicone Valley business down the road". People want the Government to prioritise families, and I want the Government to prioritise families and households and not billion euro corporations. I ask the Minister to come to the House for statements on energy and to outline his plans to meet the energy companies.

I would like to support Senators Cosgrove and Keogan. I watched the reports of young people leaving the country. It is extremely sad. My kids are in Canada. It like what happened after the 2008 when there was a wave of sadness. I hope we can put in place something to keep young people in their own country. Other countries like Canada and Australia value their worth. We should value their worth more.

I would like to offer my condolences to Senator Craughwell and his family on the sad passing of his wife.

I want to speak about the school bus transport scheme, in particular some of the anomalies in how the scheme is administered that appear consistently and repeatedly year after year. I want in particular to addreess a point I raised in the Chamber on a previous occasion. There is anomaly in Wexford town with students who were unable to attain a secondary school place in the town and had to take a school place in a different town, New Ross, but because they were not attending their closest local school they were ineligible to apply for a school bus ticket, be that concessionary or non-concessionary. At a time the Government is providing approximately €650 million for the scheme, students who, through no fault of their or their families, are unable to access secondary school place could at least be given a school bus pass. The budget needs to examine the entire school bus transport model, how it operates and how these type of anomalies can be ironed out for not only these children but other children who will be affected in the future.

I welcome the review of the hot school meals scheme for children. I encourage the Minister to examine the timing of the lunches for children. Many are expected to have a hot meal at 11 a.m. The Minister needs to look into that.

I heard many of my colleagues speak about how young people have to leave the country. I have been in contact with numerous youth organisations over the past two weeks. They are extremely worried about funding for communities and young people in the country. We hear about young people leaving the country, but the Government need to invest in young people in the budget in two weeks. They are the most vulnerable people in our society. So much is expected of young people in today's Ireland and there is no hope. One youth worker said to me there is no hope to be able to look after our young people. We tend to put young people down and look at them as being the problem while we invest in our gardaí, which I welcome - we need gardaí on the streets. We need to invest in youth services. I am a qualified youth worker. I was first introduced to politics through youth work. It is informal education and sets up young people for life. It educates them around drugs, responsibilities and opens up many doors of opportunities for young people. The House should write to the Minister collectively - I can draft a letter - to ask that the most vulnerable people in our society, that is, young people between the ages of ten and 25, are not forgotten about in the budget.

The Association of Lactation Consultants in Ireland receives, I gather, €100,000 a year from the HSE. It recently advertised a conference in Galway that would be addressed by an American gentleman, Jacob Engelsman, on the subject of lactation support for gender diverse families. I thought at first it might be about women who, in an attempt to transform into maleness, had compromised their ability to breastfeed any children they had. That would be problematic enough because Mr. Engelsman has been involved in advising mentally unwell women who want to bind their breasts for hours at a time on how they can do that and breastfeed. We are a long way from a child's best interests there. It is actually worse. This gentleman has spoken at conferences on the subject of inducing lactation. In other words, biological males, through some kind of hormonal treatment, would try to produce something akin to breastmilk. The reason for that attempt is to assert their feelings of parenthood. He referenced gender euphoria or the unique experience of it. He cited curiosity, fun or sexual gratification. Brenda Power, in the Daily Mail, asked the obvious question which is whether any parent who prioritises their own feelings and desire for euphoria over a baby's needs is potentially guilty of child abuse.

What worries me is the response of the HSE when asked about this. It said it was in line with equality legislation and inclusion strategies. That is a disgraceful response from the organisation responsible for delivering healthcare in this country. It is an astounding lack of good stewardship. To make matters worse, the Minister for Health did not spot how unacceptable this should be and did not call it out. She is very quick, and often right, to call out problems that arise in the healthcare service. By failing to condemn that and publicly disapprove of a publicly funded organisation having a guest like that speak on a topic like that, the Minister acted as an enabler for highly ideological people in the HSE and the people they support. This is not about children's best interests. It is enabling a form of child abuse. We need to debate on this. The Minister should be called to account for this. I will write to the health committee to ask it to bring in the HSE over this. The response from the HSE and Minister is far from not being not good enough. It is a disgraceful and irresponsible response.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and the 22 Senators who made contributions. Senator O'Loughlin referred to Chambers Ireland. A Senator raised yesterday the report launched by the Minister, Deputy Burke, during the summer on the cost of business. I understand the report had 63 recommendations. I said yesterday, and will repeat today, that I am willing to have a debate on it with the Minister. The Senator also asked for a debate on older people, including vaccination programmes for older people. We are very good about vaccinating kids across the country, but not older people. She spoke about her experience during the summer. I am more than happy to have that debate with the Minister of State with responsibility for older people.

Senator Mark Duffy spoke about supports for third level students and raised a really good idea for students, particularly in rural Ireland, who have to travel quite a distance to college simply because they cannot get accommodation. The Senator's view is that there should be a free travel pass for those who have long journeys and can prove it. That should be considered and the Minister should be open to it because we should be doing as much as we can to support affected students in third level education.

Senators Duffy and Boyle spoke about the local improvement scheme. I know from talking to councillors right across the country, but particularly in Tipperary because there are so many rural roads and so much infrastructure, that the scheme is vital. We can never allocate enough money for it to meet the demand, but certainly an increase would be very much welcomed by most councillors.

Senator Aubrey McCarthy spoke about the ESRI report that states 200,000 children, or one in five, are living below the poverty line. He has asked for a debate. I am happy to ask the Minister, Deputy Dara Calleary, for that, but he is actually coming in next Wednesday to speak about hot school meals. I am sure the Senator will be able to navigate from the subject of hot school meals to that of child benefit in that debate, and to the possibility of having a second-tier child benefit for kids whose families are finding it difficult in this cost-of-living crisis.

Senator Conor Murphy spoke about the double taxation issue for cross-Border workers. As he said, there are an awful lot of issues arising in terms of cross-Border working, including those associated with tax, social protection, education certificates and what people qualify for. An awful lot needs to be done. He is right and it is a very good idea to have the Seanad Public Consultation Committee do some work on that. I am aware the committee is meeting every week for the next number of weeks, presenting it with a good opportunity to do some work on the matter. When we talk about a united Ireland, it is important to talk about all of these challenging issues.

Senator Patricia Stephenson spoke about the mental health unit at St. Vincent's, which has been quite a long time coming. It is a very important care service for women going through pregnancy, or after pregnancy. I am not sure why there is a delay or why a decision has not been made. I have no doubt that it is very important to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. I am happy to have a debate on health. Perhaps a Commencement matter on the issue might be more beneficial to the Senator. In fairness to the Minister of State, she has done an awful lot of work, as Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, delivering legislation and prioritising awareness of mental health. I have no doubt that she has that same passion for the area of mental health in question and for the establishment of the unit.

Senator Teresa Costello spoke about the illegal dumping in Tallaght. This seems to be a scourge around the country. She had a very good idea about skip bags because it is hard for councils to find out whose fault it is. They have to go through the dumped material and determine whether there is any personal information in it to establish who is actually responsible. Sometimes none can be found, but having something like registered skip bags or a barcode on them would be much more helpful. We will never end illegal dumping by a certain number of people. I do not know why they do it. It is hard to understand. There is so much work done by people in communities like Tallaght and towns and villages across the country to try to keep our communities nice and clean. It can be incredibly frustrating for those decent people when they see this sort of carry-on.

Senator Manus Boyle spoke about Irish Water. I am happy to have a debate with the relevant Minister, Deputy Browne, on it, possibly after the budget, I suspect. It is incredibly frustrating. The messages he was giving today are no different from what we receive from people right across the country in each constituency. We have given Irish Water more money, asked it to deliver better and to improve its communication skills, but there is still constant frustration in this regard. I am happy to have a debate on this.

Senator Victor Boyhan spoke about the Taoiseach's visit to New York and wished him well. He also spoke about the visit of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy McEntee, to the site of the Twin Towers, where she laid a wreath. It is a really good opportunity to talk once again about the undocumented Irish in America. There is not a person in this country who does not have either a family member, neighbour or friend in America at the moment who cannot come home if a family member dies or there is something significant happening at home because of the fear of not being able to get back into America. I am sure that the Taoiseach, while he is in America, will, as he always does, try to highlight that issue for so many thousands of Irish people in America.

Senator Paul Daly asked for a debate with the Minister for agriculture. I am more than happy to request one. It is a good time for it. We have the European Presidency at the moment. The biggest issues within the European Presidency are in agriculture. The Senator and I know the Minister is very passionate about delivering on the multi-annual financial framework and CAP during his time holding the Presidency. Now that we are almost halfway through the Presidency, it is a good opportunity in this House to have a debate on those priorities the Senator outlined, whether they relate to fodder, fertiliser or the transport of live animals, which was a real issue during the summer. I am more than happy to facilitate the debate as soon as we can, possibly next week. We will try to see what we can do within the Minister's timeframe.

Senator Gareth Scahill spoke about women's health and having a debate on it. A number of other Senators spoke about this as well, in particular BreastCheck and breast density. The Senator is right. It is important that we, as men, are comfortable talking about women's health as well as women. During the previous term, I did an awful lot of work with colleagues in this House on hyperemesis, which is a very severe condition for women going through pregnancy, and on getting the drug Cariban approved. It is very helpful to women right across the country who suffer from severe illness while pregnant. We will make sure to have a debate on that with the relevant Minister.

Senator Pauline Tully spoke about Sepsis Awareness Week, something I have spoken about in the Seanad previously. I am very well aware of the condition because I contracted sepsis while in hospital. I was very lucky. As the Senator said, medical staff need to be more aware and need to be provided with more education. Often, a nurse is the first person who has to make a decision on what a condition is. I was extremely lucky that a nurse in Clonmel hospital spotted straight away that I had sepsis. Within two or three minutes, there were about ten people at the bed beside me making decisions. Awareness and education can save lives. As the Senator said, organisations in our area have saved lives. The Minister has launched the five-year strategy on sepsis. We have an opportunity to have a debate in this House on it.

Senator Maria Byrne spoke about pubs and their closure, particularly in rural areas. Over 2,000 pubs have closed and many of these were the backbone or fabric of communities and towns right across the country. We have done a lot to support rural Ireland and the industry, particularly pubs that serve food, but there is more that we can do. I totally support her call to introduce measures. The relevant Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, understands as much as the Senator and I do the importance of a pub as the nucleus of a village or town and what it means to a community. I am more than happy to support the Senator's call for supporting pubs in the budget in two weeks.

Senator Laura Harmon spoke about leave for teachers and SNAs who have been injured while working. She introduced legislation. I am not sure where it stands at the moment, but I can speak to the Minister about it and see whether she is willing to work with the Senator on it. There is always the opportunity for a Commencement matter, but we will talk to the Minister to see where we can go with that. It is not fair that people who are injured at work, particularly teachers and even more so SNAs, do not receive any supports.

Senator Gerard Craughwell spoke about enduring power of attorney and his own experience over the summer. It is incredible that only 8% of people in the country have enduring power of attorney. It is something people really do not address until they have to, so there is an opportunity to highlight the importance of acquiring the power in advance, as the Senator is doing very well. All of us, or most of us, already know who the power will relate to; we have just never got around to actually obtaining it.

To highlight that is very important.

Senator Andrews spoke about the Irish Wheelchair Association. In fairness to the Senator, I welcome this because one of the criticisms I had when this controversy started with the FAI is that it is almost like we just attack soccer and nothing else, when other organisations were playing competitive sports against certain countries, although not necessarily Israel - I will not name the sports, but one was playing against Afghanistan recently. Others were competing against Israeli competitors in different sports but no one was talking about them; it was just this attack on soccer. I agree with the Senator that everyone should be held to account in the exact same way. I welcome the fact that he has raised it.

What I would say is that to get a response like “board confidentiality” does not wash. People have to say why they have made these decisions. The Irish Wheelchair Association does an incredible amount of work, as we all know from our own communities. However, it needs to be accountable for decisions like this. There might be a good reason, but we certainly have not got it yet. It is welcome that the Senator has highlighted it. As politicians, we would be sceptical when the association says that we are playing three other nations, but it does not name the nations. They might have known themselves that there could have been an issue here. It is welcome that the Senator has raised it today.

Senators Cosgrove, Keogan and O'Reilly raised the NYCI report on the number of people leaving the country. I accept that a lot of people, young people in particular, leave the country. The majority of those who leave this country leave for a short time and then come back. The number of people who are coming back to this country as Irish citizens after being away for three, five or seven years is increasing year on year.

Senator Cosgrove referred to people leaving this country because there is no hope and nothing here for them. She and I are, I suspect, of a similar age. We came out of college just before the crash started and everything fell apart. People had to leave the country because there was no work, and there was nothing they could do. There are work opportunities for everyone in this country at the moment, and we are lucky on that point. There are obviously challenges - housing is one of them - but if the suggestion is that 62,000 people are leaving this country simply because the country is failing them, I just do not believe or accept that. Young people want to better themselves and have a broader outlook on life, and travelling is a really good element of that at a young age. I hope that, just like in recent years, a lot of people are coming home. Those people who are leaving this year will also come home, and whether that is in one, three, five or seven years, they will always be welcome to come home.

Senator Collins spoke about fuel costs, in particular the cost of home heating oil, which has increased dramatically in the past year. We all talk about how 1,000 litres was about €900 a year ago, but now it is €1,600, €1,700 or €1,800. However, we also need to be realistic. That increase did not happen because of the Government. We did not double the price of it. The price has doubled because of the war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. There are things that we can do, and I am hopeful that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Simon Harris, will make decisions on home heating and fuel costs in the budget that will support people. We understand what needs to be done, but we also have to be realistic. We cannot just cut back that increase of 100% overnight. It is just not going to happen. However, we will be there to support people, just like we were there in April with a budget that was higher than any other budget in Europe at €750 million, a budget that was not supported by Sinn Féin in the Dáil. That helped and supported people. Because we have had a surplus over the past number of years, we are in a position to do some of the things that the Senator is asking us to do. We would not be in that position if we had just spent all that money in the previous budget. However, there has to be a bit of realism in terms of what a government can and cannot do in supporting fuel costs, including heating oil. Some of the increases are just so vast and out of control. Every country is managing them. At the moment, petrol in France is €2.50 a litre. We are not alone in these challenges.

Senator Byrne raised the school bus transport scheme. He outlined a really obvious thing that needs to be changed. If a child who applies for their nearest school and cannot get a place through no fault of their own and then has to go to a different school, that should not preclude them from qualifying for a free bus pass. They wanted to go to the nearest school, but the State could not provide it, so they had to go to a different school. Why would they be doubly punished by not having a school pass because they did not go to the closest school? It was not their fault. The Senator has spoken about this several times in the House. School buses always come up at this time of year, as we know, but it seems blatantly obvious that this should be changed. It does not cost anything or do anything; it is just a change in the terms and conditions when someone applies for a bus pass. I know the Senator will speak to the Minister, and I am more than happy to speak to her on his behalf.

Senator Flynn raised the hot school meals scheme. As I said earlier, we will have a debate on that next Wednesday with the Minister for Social Protection. The Senator can raise the issue of the timing of hot meals and the other issues she brought up, such as whether people should have the option of cold meals and things like that. It will be a good opportunity to speak about that.

Senator Rónán Mullen spoke about the association of lactation and a person. I did not catch the name, but the person was brought to speak in support of the-----

It did not go ahead. There was a protest.

Did it not go ahead? He was simply invited. I have never heard of that organisation before. I do not know the person at all. If what the Senator is saying is true, I think the majority of people will be uncomfortable about those sorts of things happening.

Not the HSE and not the Minister, it appears.

I do not know the case in general, and I do not know the person at all. I will speak to the Minister about it. We will have a debate with her at some point in the next couple of weeks, possibly after the budget. There will be an opportunity to put that to the Minister when she is in the House. That concludes the Order of Business.