I have a request to mention Adam Coyle, a transition year, TY, student from Longford, who is in the Gallery. He is here on behalf of his grandfather, Michael from Belmullet in County Mayo. Mayo people are everywhere today, including the Acting Leader. Michael is celebrating his 80th birthday. We wish him and all in Belmullet a happy day today. We look forward to getting some of the cake. There are loads of events today to celebrate that.

Before I begin, I also welcome Adam Coyle to the House. As a Mayo Senator, it is always great to welcome visitors with connections to the county. Those connections have grown over the past few months since the all-Ireland win.

The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding proposed approval by Seanad Éireann of the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the agreement between the European Union and the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the return and readmission of persons who do not, or no longer, fulfil the conditions for entry, presence, or residence in the territory of either party, and No. 2, motion regarding proposed approval by Seanad Éireann of the proposal for a Council decision on the signing of the agreement between the European Union and the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the return and readmission of persons who do not, or no longer, fulfil the conditions for entry, presence, or residence in the territory of either party, to be discussed together and to be taken at 3.30 p.m. and to conclude at 4.30 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed five minutes, all Senators not to exceed five minutes each, and the Minister to be given no less than five minutes to reply to the debate; and No. 70, motion 6, Private Members' business, motion regarding fuel and energy costs to be taken at 5 p.m., with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours.

I mention a moment of enormous pride for Drogheda, my home town. Five young people from the town have been recognised for the 2026 global undergraduate awards. Katelyn Sherry and Robert Finan of Trinity College Dublin are both from Drogheda and have been named global winners in, respectively, politics and international relations, and philosophy.

Kristaps Meiers is a regional winner in visual arts while Caolum Dyas and Czacarri Muli were highly commended in engineering and visual arts. Global winners represent the highest ranking submission in their category worldwide so five students from one town receiving this level of international recognition really does put Drogheda on the cerebral map. They have done their families, their colleagues and our town enormously proud.

I seek an update from the Minister for Health on access to the shingles vaccination. My colleague Senator Robbie Gallagher raised this issue earlier this year. In May, we heard that the HSE was negotiating with the vaccine provider and that the Department was examining its introduction, initially for immunocompromised people. We are now at the end of September. I know of three women who are currently suffering terribly with shingles. We are talking about all age brackets here. An older friend of mine in Drogheda told me that she recently paid well over €300 for vaccinations. She is a senior citizen so that includes the assistance that is available to her. At the moment, the full vaccination costs €500 to €600. It is not a luxury. Shingles can cause debilitating and long-lasting pain. I ask the Leader to seek a debate or an update from the Minister on these negotiations and on plans to make vaccination more affordable and accessible.

I will return to an issue I have raised very recently, the proliferation of vape shops right across the country. We have a great many of them in my hometown of Drogheda and across Louth. We should examine whether local authorities need stronger planning tools to protect the diversity of our town centres. We already have precedent for public health considerations in planning, including restrictions on fast food outlets being placed close to schools. Could we examine similar measures for vape shops, including restrictions on their concentration and proximity to one another? More broadly, could councils be able to consider the excessive clustering of identical retail uses? This might include the likes of mobile phone shops, nail bars and barber shops. We are seeing far too many of these, particularly in some very small towns and villages. As I said last week, our town centres need variety. They need to attract a multitude of different types of retail. They need independent businesses, services and reasons for people to visit and to stay. I ask for a debate on our planning system, how we can achieve this and how we can help local authorities to achieve greater variety, thereby cutting down on the proliferation on the likes of vape shops.

Members of both Houses will have been taken aback at the recent re-emergence of the Garvaghy Road issue. After decades of relative quietude, all the old angst has erupted again. Many here are asking what the Parades Commission was thinking. With all the routine memes and tropes being rehearsed again, this issue underscores just how premature all of the recent talk about a united Ireland has been. Maybe that is what the Parades Commission was thinking. Who is to say? To an outside neutral like myself, it hardly seems proportionate that an urban distributor road in Portadown that has yet to reach a Department for Infrastructure classification can double as the touchstone of esteem in parts of Leath Cuinn i láthair na huaire ach is é mar atá sé. After nearly three decades of the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement, is it not preposterous that we are looking at the same old farrago of obstinacy, bile and confrontation that were de rigueur in the last generation?

It is worth noting that one of the main objectives of the Parades Commission is "To promote and facilitate mediation as a means of resolving disputes concerning public processions." In that regard, the commission might usefully embark on a programme of one-for-one scrappage of contentious marches, that is, ending a troubling march by an entity in one community along with a similarly fraught march from an entity in the other community, all the while pointing out that the courage to do things in a new and progressive way yields tangible positive results. Heaven knows there are plenty of candidate marches up in the North of Ireland to choose from. Ulster folk have been celebrated over the years as having a strong titter of wit about them. They might usefully employ this famous hard-headedness to assess starkly the folly of these parades.

Strutting along in serried rows is synonymous all over the world in all polities with muscle flexing and domination. I yearn to think that in Ireland, in our post-colonial 21st century, we are better and hopefully more enlightened than this. I respectfully request that the Treoraí Gníomhach convey to our Government my proposal here relating to the Parades Commission to assess if it has merits and may progress through the appropriate intergovernmental channels.

I rise to speak on the same subject. Last week, I raised this when I was speaking during the Order of Business in the hope that the clear attempt to provoke a reaction and bring us back to an issue which had been resolved for decades would not be indulged by authorities in the North. Sadly, we are today in a situation where, on the back of completely foolish advice from the PSNI which disregarded all previous history, the Parades Commission took a reckless decision to allow an Orange march down Garvaghy Road. Both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have made similar public statements about it. Their sense of bewilderment is shared by everybody outside of that very small core within unionism - it does not extend to the entirety of unionism at all - who have tried to provoke this particular issue in an attempt to drag us all back to the past. The broad sense in the North is one of absolute bewilderment and shock. There is also frustration that people in authority could take decisions that have such far-reaching implications for the community. There is fear as well as to where all of this will lead. In particular, there is fear among the residents of Garvaghy Road.

As my colleague, John Finucane, said, this was not a problem to be resolved, this was actually a peace to be protected. The Orange Order can march from Drumcree Church to Portadown and back at any stage they want without any impediment. They have sufficient routes to do that. Yet, there is an insistence on coming down the Garvaghy Road with all of the history attached to that community's experience. That is not going back just 30 years but hundreds of years. The experience of the community in that area is completely outrageous.

I was on the road over the weekend and I was pleased that there was a number of Oireachtas Members from various parties there. Anyone from the Seanad would be very much welcome in the community. We are delighted to see people coming up to show support for them. There is a real trauma being reopened there about past experiences but there is also a very strong mood of resilience and a determination not to be dragged back to the past. The complete mishandling of this by the Parades Commission, the PSNI, the NIO and the Secretary of State has shown us how fragile all of the hard-gotten gains of the past 30 years can be. That includes peace, the Good Friday Agreement, policing itself and reconciliation.

There is an urgent need to remove the threat of this parade from the Garvaghy Road residents. That can be done by the Secretary of State and the Chief Constable. They need to take that action now. This ongoing situation, where there are people effectively camped out on that road, day and night, to try to prevent that, is revisiting a trauma on a community that has suffered enough trauma over the years. The Secretary of State should act now to lift that sense of trauma over the community. I ask the acting Leader to urgently request that of the Government. I know there has been intervention and I heard Ministers speak. I am aware of discussions happening behind the scenes but they need urgent intervention from the Secretary of State to use the power he has to stop this now. We need to protect the peace and all of the gains we have made over the past 30 years and ensure that community can live in peace, as has been their strong desire for the last number of decades.

I also want to speak about the Garvaghy Road. I lived and worked up North and many of my friends lived and worked around the Garvaghy Road. They lived around Portadown and were traumatised back in the late 1990s, and are still traumatised by the horrific and brutal violence that surrounded the Orange marches around that time. The community of the Garvaghy Road has the right to live free from sectarian violence and domination. They do not want to be sucked back in to polarisation and division. It is a violation of their right to live peacefully. Like Senator Murphy said, over 90% of parades go unrestricted and the organisers of this Orange march know there are loads of other routes that have been identified which they could use.

The organisers of this march have used – it has to be called out – inflammatory language, such as “staging post”, “culture wars” and “unfinished business”. It looks like a deliberate act of provocation. Why is this happening? What is the end game? Is it because there has been some more talk about a united Ireland, or the fact that there are elections coming up in May? Communities have been dragged back into this. The Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition has called for international mediation and an international moderator.

I agree that it is up to the PSNI, and questions must also be asked about the Parades Commission. How was this allowed to happen in the first place? Maybe the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Bryant, needs to intervene and overturn the decision. No one wants to see the destabilisation of Stormont. People are still living and suffering through the cost-of-living and housing crises. This talk about institutions breaking down cannot be happening. It is a one-sided and very much uneven playing field here. That needs to be called out. I would welcome anything we can do in this House to ensure this is supported from us down here in the South.

It will be no surprise to the Acting Leader to hear me mention public transport. It is a huge issue in north County Dublin, where I am based. There is a particular issue with the train stations in north County Dublin. They are at capacity very early in the morning. There has been an emerging, growing and particular issue around Rush and Lusk train station. I had a lot of contact this morning regarding the situation at that train station. The car park is at capacity very early in the morning, and neither town is within walking distance of the train station. There is no reliable bus link to the train station either, so people are forced to drive and park at the station. People who contacted me this morning were in tears describing how they left for the train station at half eight in the morning but not one spot was available. People are missing out on work, college and appointments in town as a result of this.

There has been a huge volume of building in Lusk and Rush in recent years, but there has been no supporting infrastructure increase in public transport provision in the area. The car park at Rush and Lusk train station is quite big compared with the other car parks, but it is impossible for people to get a parking spot, which makes the only reliable public transport offering in north County Dublin unreliable. People cannot guarantee that they can get a spot at the train station to get into town for work or an appointment, as I said.

We need to look at what we are doing for commuters. North County Dublin is absorbing the housing needs of Dublin. I have said time and again in this House that we need to put the supporting infrastructure in place. While lovely houses are being built, it is not enough to give people the opportunity of buying houses; we need to provide the public services. People are moving into these areas. The glossy brochures detail that a train station is located nearby. That station, however, is practically unusable for the vast majority of people who want to access the train. I ask for a debate on our growing communities. I know Senator Comyn beside me raises similar issues. Growing communities on the outskirts of Dublin are suffering due to a lack of infrastructure. We need to have joined-up thinking in this House when it comes to the provision of infrastructure for these communities.

I raise the matter of the judicial council (amendment) Bill 2026. In particular, I urge the Minister to move this legislation forward as quickly as possible. The general scheme was published in January 2026, and it was welcomed as an important step in the Government’s insurance reform agenda. It has a clear objective to make the process around personal injury guidelines more transparent, evidence-based and predictable. I wish to find out when we will see the legislation come through. Businesses across the country have been waiting for meaningful progress on insurance reform for years. The Government has made many strides in this space, and I do not think anyone can argue to the contrary. For many small businesses, however, insurance is still a thorn in their sides.

It is a significant operating cost and it can determine whether a business can expand, employ more people or even remain viable. We have already seen the importance of the personal injury guidelines in bringing greater consistency and predictability to the system. The Injuries Resolution Board has also demonstrated the value of resolving claims outside the courts with significant savings in legal costs. I reiterate that the average cost of bringing a claim through the Injuries Resolution Board is €961 - almost €1,000 - in legal fees with a payout of around €26,000. If people go through litigation it will cost them about €25,000 in legal fees with a €25,000 payout. We still see many cases go through litigation. Even though there has been an increase in cases going through the Injuries Resolution Board, we would like to see more.

The general scheme proposes some very important changes. It would require the personal injuries guidelines committee to consult the Injuries Resolution Board and other stakeholders. It would require research into awards made in Ireland and, more importantly, compare them with jurisdictions outside of the State. Importantly, this research would have to be published when new guidelines are brought forward. This is the type of transparency that we need.

The Government's action plan for insurance reform recognises that further reform is needed to improve affordability, transparency and competition. Will the Acting Leader ask the Minister where we are with the legislation and ask that it is put on the priority list so we can get it through the Houses as quickly as the legislative process allows? I thank the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, for all the work he has done on this. We have had the general scheme for the past nine months. Could we now have a timetable for delivering it?

It is good to see Senator Duffy in the role of Acting Leader. It is the first time he has been in this position for the Order of Business. Well done.

I want to raise the issue of horticulture and the amount of fruit and vegetables imported last year. A bulletin issued last night by agriland.ie had an article with a headline stating that the latest trade figures show that Ireland imported almost €2 billion worth of fruit and vegetables in 2025. This is in the context of the number of local horticultural producers continuing to decline, with virtually nobody growing simple horticultural produce such as cauliflower, cabbage, turnip, beetroot and carrot in a sustainable and profitable way. All of these are so simple to grow all year round in the right conditions in Ireland. In 2025, Ireland exported €492.5 million worth of fruit and vegetables and related produce compared with importing produce totalling €1.97 billion. This is at a time when Teagasc and horticultural agencies are trying to promote food. We have an issue and it hinges on productivity, profitability, energy for pumping water, energy for cooling down glasshouse production and soft fruit production and energy for horticultural and farm machinery. We will have a debate later so I do not intend to talk about it.

What is interesting is that the Climate Change Advisory Council is recommending that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine review the potential for Irish horticulture production and the challenges facing Irish food security. In fairness, I contacted the Leader's office this morning and I got a response. I appreciate the Minister is under a bit of pressure but I must say that we do have a designated Minister of State for horticulture and perhaps we could bring the issue there. I am happy to wait for an appropriate time. I am a member of the agriculture committee and this is regularly raised there. With regard to the Seanad, the Upper House, this issue is a national challenge and a national issue. It is about food security and being able to sustain Irish produce and Irish food. It is timely and worthy that we would have statements and a debate in the House on this particular subject.

We have heard many contributions in these Houses on the rapid escalation in the development of solar farms. Nowhere is this more evident than in County Longford, where we now have a wild west scenario and the beautiful county is beset by ravenous speculators and profiteers. Fuelling the pillaging is the planned ESB battery storage site at the former power station facility in Lanesborough, with plans for an 896 acre battery energy storage enclosure. This will be one of the largest such facilities in Europe.

The big cash cow now is trying to get planning permission for solar and wind energy projects as close as possible to this battery site. The latest application is for the 247-acre Carrowroe and Aghaloughan solar farm. Less than 15 km up the road from this location is the 321-acre Foigha solar farm. A stone's throw from that, we have the 275-acre Ballymahon solar farm. These are all within a radius of 10 km to 15 km of each other. People living in Lanesborough or its immediate hinterland risk the real prospect of being surrounded by what will be the largest single solar farm in the country, one totalling over 850 acres. This runs alongside Bord na Móna's plans for a massive 4,600-acre wind farm.

The Longford solar farm plans are 50% bigger than the largest current solar site in Ireland, which is Ballymacarney in County Meath. We understand that is on the market now for €250 million. In essence, then, we have two companies founded in the 1930s to drive development and industry in this country, Bord na Móna and the ESB, that will potentially be sitting on assets worth €1.5 billion in a matter of years. Ultimately, they could sell these farms in time to come to a foreign entity, and, in doing so, sell on nearly 6,000 acres of County Longford.

None of these sites or planning applications should be viewed in isolation. Instead, they need to be seen for what they are: a massive underhanded effort to establish a major energy-generating operation in a small rural area. All these planning applications are piecemeal and individual, with the net aim of ultimately securing planning for a cumulative energy production proposal that is patently at odds with the community. Anybody familiar with rural Ireland will say that the pace of solar applications has been too much and the recklessness of it creates the possibility of landing an intolerable burden on a small community.

Obviously, I accept that I am a Government representative, but, simply, the scale of wind and solar energy applications in this country has been allowed to go unchecked. We are now facing an intolerable situation, as is borne out in County Longford. I appeal to the Taoiseach and the Government at large to take soundings and to say "Stop" at this juncture because we need to take stock of what is happening. The prospect of 6,000 acres of County Longford being sold in time to come to a foreign entity surely has to be enough for everybody in a position of power to stand up and say it is too much.

I direct the House's attention to a recent disturbing report published by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, on child trafficking in Ireland. This document exposes a hidden dark reality that our State apparatus is actively ignoring. The report reveals that child trafficking is significantly under-identified in this country. Our authorities are blind to the exploitation happening right in front of them, too often treating vulnerable child victims as simple child protection statistics rather than as victims.

The statistics are a mathematical indictment of this Government. In 2024, only ten child victims were identified in the entire State. In 2025, that number was just 18. Let us compare this with our nearest neighbour, the UK, where over 7,400 children were identified in a single year. Here, however, is the most shocking revelation. Of all the child trafficking victims identified in Ireland in 2024 and 2025, not a single one was an Irish national. This completely contradicts European and UK data, where around 80% of identified child victims are citizens exploited within their own borders. Gangs and predatory networks are actively grooming, sexually exploiting and using Irish children in residential State care for criminal activities. Yet the State is failing to identify them.

Meanwhile, our online spaces have become an unpoliced playground for groomers. The response to the technology facilitating this trafficking has completely failed to keep pace with organised crime. We have billions of euro floating around the Exchequer, yet the specialised unit tasked with investigating these horrific networks, the Garda human trafficking investigation and co-ordination Unit, is systematically starved of resources. I think we have 16 gardaí in that unit. Let us just think about that number. Can we imagine what goes undetected?

I call for an urgent debate on this report and I demand that the Minister immediately increase the number of gardaí assigned to this vital human trafficking unit before any more children are left to fall through the cracks.

I congratulate Aoife and Lisa O'Rourke on delivering two golds for Ireland in the European elite championships. It was a great achievement. My colleague must be delighted. It must be like winning the all-Ireland again.

The FAI will come before the sports committee tomorrow. If the Ireland-Israel pre-match press conference is anything to go by, the FAI CEO is likely to have Heimir Hallgrímsson in answering any difficult questions for him. From first to last, FAI senior management has shown zero leadership. From the time the draw was made, the CEO of the FAI said the sanctions would be severe. It now transpires that the FAI does not actually know what the sanctions are; Paul Cooke said he did not know what the sanctions were. This is deliberate and misleading confusion. Irish football does not want the Irish team to play Israel. The FAI leadership has ignored Irish football to appease the Government. Any sort of leadership would have made sure that it was not on the players. Leadership is Gavin Bazunu, who was brave and outspoken. It is to his huge credit that he was not willing to play Israel. Others should follow. I do not know how the CEO and chairman can stay on in their positions. They facilitated sportswashing by genocidal Israel and threw the players under the bus.

The Government has also shown zero leadership. On Saturday, Barry Ward stated that the Government would have supported the FAI in respect of penalties if it had refused to play Israel. It would have been a good idea if the Government and Barry Ward had told the FAI that in advance of the match. That is another example of the confusion and lack of leadership. The Government was elected to lead. Shamefully, the Government and FAI put it on the 20-odd Irish players to decide whether to play. The FAI has presided over a shambles and its position is no longer tenable. The Minister for sport needs to come to the House and explain the consequences of not playing Israel next week. It is the least the Irish public deserve. The Irish football family deserve to know what the penalties were because nobody seems to know. It is a tightly kept secret. A debate would be helpful.

When Members raise matters in the public discussion and discourse, they need to be mindful of Standing Order 52 in relation to striking the balance.

As the Cathaoirleach knows, coming from a rural part of Ireland, the rural pub is not just a building where alcohol is sold. It is much more than that. It is a meeting place and a social outlet. It is the heartbeat of many rural towns and villages the length and breadth of the country. Many pubs are just about surviving and no more. Something like over 2,200 pubs have disappeared in the past 20 years. When we lose them, we lose something from our rural towns and villages that cannot be replaced. That is why in the budget I would like something substantial for small pubs in rural Ireland, in particular those that do not sell food. They have received no assistance whatsoever. I call on the Government to seriously examine what the vintners have put forward as a potential package and hope it would be implemented. When we lose our local pub in a rural village town, we lose something that we cannot get back. We are trying to protect rural Ireland as best as we possibly can.

I would like smuggling to be addressed in the budget. We need additional resources to tackle it. It is estimated that up to 40% of cigarettes circulating in the country are illegal, which is a serious issue.

It could be a loss to the Exchequer of something in the region of €650 million, which is a huge amount of money. Many of our small shops depend on these products to stay open. Coming from a Border county, which it brings its own challenges, I am particularly conscious of that. I would like to see more resources, particularly as regards smuggling. We need extra manpower in vital places to ensure that we can clamp down and eradicate the scourge on society.

Last Thursday, during statements here on a report on inclusion, I mentioned Lisa and Aoife O'Rourke's final appearances on Thursday and Friday last. I was lucky, on Saturday evening, to be a part of the welcoming committee welcoming them back to their native Castlerea with their families and their two gold medals. It is something we are getting used to.

Today, I want to bring it back to something that I have raised here on a number of occasions in terms or resourcing the Garda. Probably to follow on from what Senator Gallagher has said about the resources, it is getting to a stage where I am wondering whether we will need Lisa and Aoife O'Rourke to apply justice to certain things across Roscommon because of the lack of resources.

I did some research over the weekend to find out the volume of cases that the Garda was dealing with under section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act 2011, which mandates financial institutions and individuals to report suspected corporate or financial fraud. Some of the stations across Roscommon are dealing with ten plus cases a day in this. Each of those cases, no matter how small - quite a lot of them only relate to €2 or €3 missing out of people's accounts - requires the same Garda intervention as €5,000, €6,000 or €10,000 disappearing out of their accounts. How can we expect to have the Garda numbers looking at the importation of tobacco, drugs, etc., if they are tied up on a daily basis with these small cases? I tried to find an idea of the number of cases that we were dealing with here. The Central Statistics Office excludes all section 19 referrals from its quarterly and annual fraud, deception and related offences metrics because financial institutions are submitting an overwhelming volume of these mandatory reports and the system currently is not able to deal with that. An Garda Síochána noted in 2024 that the sheer scale of the section 19 backlog was so substantial that when the number would finally be cleared and processed, it was expected to trigger a massive artificial surge in Ireland's national fraud statistics. Given the profits that have been made by the financial institutions in this country, surely we need to look at levying the banks to look after these small cases on their own so that we can take that work off the Garda at an earlier stage and find out if people wish to proceed with these small minor robberies and fraud cases.

I would like to also congratulate Senator Duffy on taking the Leader's seat. The people of Mayo, especially north Mayo, will do their very best to ensure that the Senator does not get used to that particular seat but I congratulate the Senator on today and wish him the very best of luck with it.

We have a responsibility in politics to be honest and truthful when we speak. It has suited the Irish way to talk about the 43% increase in the defence budget, which is a nominal figure. It might sound good for our European partners to pretend that we have increased our budget, which is the worst and lowest budget in Europe, and probably in the world, at 0.22%. It might sound good to say we have increased it by 43% over a five-year period from 2021 to 2026. The Central Statistics Office will tell you that consumer prices rose by 24% in that period and when we net out the purchasing power of any increase in defence, we see that we have increased it by somewhere between 15% and 19%, so it is time that we start to be honest with the people of this country. We are not putting the money into defence that we should be. Moreover, when the Department of education wildly overspends, we take €12 million off an already starved defence system to compensate.

If defence overspends next year, will we take money off education, health or justice? It is outrageous that we are treating the defence of this nation in the way that we are. We can pretend all we want but at the end of the day, we are the weakest, most defenceless country in the entire European Union. We are going around the place banding figures of 43% - it might sound good, but it is wrong in every sense of the word. Finally, buying hardware is great, but if you are not paying the people, all the hardware in the world is of no bloody use to you.

I stand this morning in solidarity with the residents of Garvaghy Road over what has taken place in the weekend gone by. I have to say it is pleasing to see the approach that has been taken by this British Government and this Administration. The caring and collaborative approach that has been taken is very welcome. While some might want to see a quick victory and for this brought to an end, I am a representative that would be very much with Chris Bryant in that whatever agreement is reached, it should be done with everybody coming to the table and with a little bit of latitude, respect, reconciliation and negotiation spirit. I look forward to a resolution there.

I also wish to stand and congratulate the Irish soccer team, which had a fantastic victory in recent days against the Israel team. I was one who watched with immense pride, given the pressure the team was put under - not only the players but also their families - which I think was wrong. A lot of things have been said about the players and the FAI. The FAI took decisions and asked that the decision be taken out of its hands by UEFA. Unfortunately, that did not happen, but I think it was good for Ireland and our sport that the game continued. I hope we get a very good crowd out to support the team on Thursday night, and I wish the players well with the rest of the fixtures. We are 100% behind them.

Today, I raise the issue of the Garvaghy Road. I saw a TikTok of a woman who grew up on the Garvaghy Road who is now engaged to an Orange man, as she described him. That is the reality being lost in all the division. We cannot lose sight of the people who have bridged the divide and built families and homes together, regardless of whether they grew up in republican or unionist households.

As we enter the third day of protests at the Garvaghy Road, we need to remember that the powers that be thrive on polarised communities. When the cost of living is high, hospitals are overcrowded and people are locked out of housing, it is much easier to pit people against each other and to distract from years of policy failures. The decision to allow the Orange Order to march down the Garvaghy Road will only push people to the extremes and reopen old wounds. There has been so much positive work done in the past 30 years and we should do everything in our power to protect it.

Nobody benefits from sectarianism, except those in power. If Stormont collapses, the DUP and Sinn Féin will have to set themselves up for an election that distracts from all the day-to-day issues affecting every single person in the North, regardless of what side of Portadown you come from. Bertie Ahern, a former leader of Fianna Fáil who was at the helm of the Good Friday Agreement, put it right a while ago when he said they should not be looking for short-term gain for votes at a time when we need peace, people and leaders to work for that peace and shared similarities between communities, and not to stoke flames because of their differences.

I want to raise the issue of the planned inquiry into the State's care of children with spina bifida and scoliosis, following the recent publication of the scoping exercise report.

It is clear from the initial reaction to the report that many families and campaign groups have serious concerns about how it is structured, the proposed structure and the terms of reference of the inquiry. It is critical that the inquiry commands the confidence of the affected families. They have suffered enough and if it does not, it simply will not answer the questions we need answered. The whole purpose of the inquiry is to deliver truth, justice and accountability for those affected. If the structure of the inquiry does not have buy-in from the families, we are failing them at the first hurdle.

Families have many unanswered questions and concerns. They have been consistent in their call for a public inquiry. The Minister for Health said that some elements of the commission could be held in public but we need more clarity and engagement with families in that respect. The narrow scope of the proposed commission of investigation is also a concern for many and something the Government needs to address. Why is the proposed remit only to investigate cases between 2019 and 2025? There was a crisis in spina bifida and scoliosis care long before 2019; it goes all the way back to 2000. Many children and families whom the State failed before 2019 are excluded. It will deny countless families access to truth and justice the inquiry purports to deliver. That is supposedly the objective of the inquiry. The exclusion of so many cases seems to go against that ethos.

The inquiry has to deliver a comprehensive examination of what happened to these children. It must be truly child-centred. That is why the Minister should not move forward with drafting the terms of reference without answering these concerns. Last March, she undertook to ensure the voices of families would be central to the process yet families were informed of the briefing on the scoping report at the eleventh hour. Some had even previously pulled out due to documents on their own children's care being withhold from them. They felt they could not go forward without that transparency. Families need to buy into this process or the whole thing is for show and does not deliver true justice.

I attended a protest outside the gates of Leinster House this morning at 11 o'clock by Every Child Matters, a campaign established in counties Cavan and Meath by parents of children with additional needs. It has now spread to most other counties in the State. Afterwards in the audiovisual room, six mothers attending that protest came in to speak to us about their experiences. Their contributions were extremely powerful but heartbreaking. It was shocking to hear about the lack of support for their children with disabilities and additional needs. They have had to fight for everything - assessments for autism or ADHD and services. The CDNTs insist parents do training and deliver therapies themselves to the children. Parents are in favour of doing everything they can to support their children but they are not trained therapists. The children also need support and input from therapists. They are not getting those services at all. Most of them told us they had not had one session of physiotherapy or occupational or speech and language therapy - nothing - since the service was established.

CDNTs were established under a policy called "progressing disability". We have to realise this is not working. It should be renamed "regressing disability" because successive Governments and Ministers have failed children, young people and their families by not providing the services they need. A level of dependency is being created in future adults if early intervention and the supports children need at this stage are not provided. Children's rights need to be recognised. The State has responsibility to meet them. It is not doing so at the moment. It is letting them down. It is not listening to parents either. The CDNTs say it is a parent-led service yet they will not listen to parents when they talk about what their children's needs are.

I ask for a debate with the Minister for disability on the lack of services and supports for children with additional needs.

Before I call on the Acting Leader, I join those who raised the issue of the Garvaghy Road in expressing my concerns about what has developed over the past week. We unfortunately will remember what happened there nearly 30 years ago and the estimated 21 murders that happened around the Garvaghy Road and because of the issues around it not just 28 years ago but in the years leading up to it. There were numerous parades blocked and allowed through over those years which led directly to the murders of an estimated 21 people.

We do not want to go back to those days. We hope that the Irish Government, working with their colleagues in Northern Ireland, but also Britain, the United States and Europe, make sure that the situation is resolved peacefully and that the peaceful situation that has existed for many years in the Garvaghy Road community would be allowed to continue.

I will begin with the Garvaghy Road, as it is something that has been raised by many, including Senators Conway, Murphy, Cosgrove, Blaney and Sarah O'Reilly. As the Cathaoirleach rightly mentioned, it is something that we did not see coming down the tracks. It took us all by surprise, first, in terms of the decision that was made by the Parades Commission. No one in this House wants to go back to the scenes of the past. As we know, peace is something that needs to be protected and worked upon every day. We have made great strides across the island in improving relations across communities, but it also shows the sensitivity that still exists in the North in both communities.

The Secretary for State spoke earlier this morning about both sides needing to double down on compromising. He is travelling to Belfast today to re-engage with communities and civil leaders there. Dialogue is the best way forward but it does bring attention to the sensitivities that do exist on this issue. I hope that a resolution can be found this week because it is such a sensitive issue. As Senator Conor Murphy said in his contribution, it has the effect of retraumatising people who have grown up in that area, both young and old. The new and younger generation in particular, which has benefited from the peace process, do not want to see these wounds being reopened on the Garvaghy Road or anywhere else across the island. I hope that a positive resolution to this dispute between both communities is brought to a conclusion this week.

Senator Comyn raised the proliferation of vape shops across Ireland, and in particular in her home county of Louth. It is something that has been raised here many times by many Senators. It requires an all-of-government approach to address the proliferation of these shops. The issue is raised with me regularly. It is also raised with representatives, councillors, Senators and Oireachtas Members, because people have a civic pride in their town and they feel that the cynical targeting of young people in particular with different flavouring and colouring really does not add anything to a town. I have spoken with the Leader on this and he hopes to bring forward proposals to the Seanad that we can all discuss and debate. It will require a whole-of-government approach. Senator Comyn has my full support in working to help try and address that for every town across Ireland.

Senator Comyn also raised the shingles vaccine, which is something I previously raised in a Commencement matter. I understand that no decision has been made on it. I also understand the real importance of the issue. People do not really appreciate the effect shingles can have until they get it themselves, in terms of the debilitating illness that it is. I encourage her to table a Commencement matter on it. I am sure the Minister wants to see it realised. I believe there are conversations ongoing, so I do not want to pre-empt any commercial discussions, but it is something that would be very well received by us all here.

Senator Nelson Murray raised the publication of the legislation on insurance reform - the judicial council (amendment) Bill - the general scheme of which was published in January this year.

The Senator has been a long-time advocate of insurance reform and has done brilliant work in this House and in her party to help to improve conditions and make them more friendly for businesses, which are already under pressure. I will take it up with the Leader to make sure this item is put on the agenda as soon as possible. The Minister, as Senator Nelson Murray mentioned, is no stranger to this House and has led many Bills through the Seanad in his Ministry and I would like to think the legislation will come before the House sooner than later.

Senator Clifford-Lee raised an important issue in her area, specifically the limitations on car parking at the train station at Rush and Lusk. It is a victim of its success, with the increased use of public transport and the expansion of both towns with housing developments, but if it cannot be adequately accessed by bus transport or active travel infrastructure, that creates a big challenge. I work with the Senator on the transport committee and it is something we can work on together to advocate for it. She has requested a debate on growing communities on the peripheries of cities like Dublin, Cork and different areas where there is a big population and pressure is put on satellite towns. It is a good and worthwhile proposal and I will discuss it with the Leader to consider whether we can facilitate that discussion.

Senator Victor Boyhan discussed the horticulture sector and, in particular, the €2 billion worth of imports of fruit and vegetables to Ireland. We have a strong climate with conditions that could support improvements to increase exports, which stand at €495 million currently. There is merit in an overall conversation in this space to see what Ireland can do from a food security point of view, and from an industrial point of view in terms of creating new jobs, to make sure we maximise what we produce. The Senator has discussed it with the Leader's office and I hope his request can be facilitated.

Senator Joe Flaherty discussed the proliferation of solar farms, in particular in his home county of Longford, where in an area with a 15 km radius, more than 850 acres of solar farms are being developed. While we all want to ensure we have a decarbonised future with wind and solar energy and other renewable projects, we also need to have planning clarity on this. It has been discussed here at length. I encourage Senator Flaherty to put down a Commencement matter on it and I will speak to the Leader to ensure it is highlighted, because every community needs clarity on it.

Senator Keogan discussed the sensitive nature of child trafficking in Ireland. It is a sensitive topic and a lot of the contribution made involves serious content. If there is a lack of resourcing, that is a more general discussion we can have, as Senator Scahill encouraged. However, there will be a good opportunity through the justice committee to discuss and raise it, as there potentially also is through a Commencement matter to make sure those issues are highlighted. It is important that every child in this country is protected, especially those who are most vulnerable, and everything needs to be done to enable and support that.

I do not think anyone would disagree with that.

Senator Andrews raised the recent football game between Ireland and Israel, which is another very sensitive topic. Many people have many views on this. It is a very sensitive matter. Obviously, the FAI consulted its membership and that membership made a decision to go ahead with the game. The players were consulted by management and their decision was to go ahead with the game. The game went ahead and Ireland won the game. I have the view, and I think my view is shared more broadly, that UEFA has made it very difficult for countries like Ireland, which has a very strong position on Gaza and Palestine, by not making a decision one way or another on Israel's participation in the Nations League games. That has placed a downward pressure on the association and, indeed, the management team and players. As the Senator mentioned, tomorrow an FAI delegation will appear before the Oireachtas committee on sports. It will be a further opportunity to talk through the technicalities of the issue. We all condemn persecution, war and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. No one in the FAI, in Ireland or in this House condones any of that. However, the reality that faced the FAI in the event that it chose not to play the game has put pressure on them. UEFA must bring clarity by making a judgment on behalf of all associations and not singling out Ireland to do the work on that.

Senator Andrews also raised the huge success of Aoife and Lisa O'Rourke, as did Senator Scahill. On behalf of all Senators, I reiterate that it is a huge honour and achievement for them both. It is inspiring for young women in sport. Senator Scahill also mentioned their achievements under the premise of inclusion in sport and ensuring we have sporting access for everyone of all age, gender and ability or otherwise. The O'Rourke sisters are brilliant ambassadors and I convey my sincere congratulations to them on that.

Senator Scahill made an interesting point about the overwhelming nature of reports of fraud cases to the Garda. He made a really good observation about the amount of paperwork and technical work faced by gardaí in each station. As a fellow member of the same Garda jurisdiction in Roscommon and Mayo, we all want to see more gardaí being freed up to be on the beat and be a presence in communities, and support community policing, and active and proactive policing because that is the most constructive form we can take. I encourage the Senator to raise the issue with the committee and table a Commencement matter to continue the advocacy for it. The Senator has my support because, as he has said, the CSO excludes fraud in the financial sector, which is overwhelming the system and definitely more needs to be done in that area.

Senator Gallagher raised two points ahead of the upcoming budget, the first of which related to the closure of 2,200 pubs in recent years. Obviously there has been a cultural change. Pubs open and close for various reasons so there is not just one small measure. However, pubs are a lifeline in many rural areas.

He addressed pubs that do not sell food but are often a home for community, whether that is people meeting up for a community meeting, having a game of cards, having a gathering after a funeral or a celebration of a community achievement. They offer a really important link for rural Ireland. The Senator called for supports in the upcoming budget for that. We cannot pre-empt the budget but we hope that there are supports in that space. Senator Gallagher also raised smuggling issues, in particular in respect of tobacco, and while over a number of years the rates of smoking have decreased across Ireland, primarily due to the increase in cost and other societal changes, smuggling is the black market that has been an unintended consequence of that price increase. Even solid fuels, which are in a regulated environment, represent a sector which has also been undermined by black market sales. We should have a broader conversation on smuggling because it is unregulated, we do not know the contents of it and it is costing the State both in health and finances.

Senator Craughwell raised the issue of investment in the defence sector, in particular taking issue with the 43% increase for defence because of the impact of inflation on that figure. The buying power is not as pronounced as the headline figure makes itself out to be. He has rightly said that we need to invest more in defence, especially in a more polarised world in the last number of years. Budget day is just around the corner. The Senator would share my support and I hope that we see an increased investment in defence. Senator Craughwell has been a long-time advocate for increased measures in defence spending and brings a lot of expertise to the space. I hope that is realised in the budget.

Senator Blaney congratulated the Irish football team on their win. I would like to share that. It is an incredibly difficult time for them as players, their families and their supporters. There are multiple different views in every household on many different issues but this is a particularly sensitive one that has put the players under a lot of pressure. I hope that we can all get behind the team in their fixture against Austria on Thursday. They lost to Kosovo, have beaten Israel, and have a chance now to really kick on in the group with a win over Austria.

Senator Stephenson has raised the recommendation for a commission of investigation for those with spina bifida and scoliosis. This has been an incredibly difficult issue for many families and for patients. I have met many and have worked with the Minister, who has been sincere and generous with her time in meeting families that have been affected in multiple different ways. I welcome the commission of investigation into it. Clarity and accountability are needed about the matter. I hope that the commission of investigation's scope is broad enough to ensure that all cases are properly considered and those who are affected are listened to because it is important that these voices are listened to and that the reforms are made to protect children to prevent anything that has happened previously in that area.

Senator Pauline Tully attended a protest outside on Kildare Street today and attended the session in the audiovisual room about the Every Child Matters campaign, in particular relating to the lack of support for children with disabilities. She has relayed her views on the CDNT and is asking for a debate on it.

I totally understand. Daily, I meet families affected where there are children or adults with disabilities in the household. While the Government has invested a significant amount in disability and is very sincere in trying to address this problem, there is a long way to go. I think we all recognise that. Budget day is around the corner. I am not trying to pin all the hopes of every issue on it but I hope to see improvements for the disability sector on budget day.

I think those were all the matters raised with me.

I welcome guests of the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Ardagh, from Presentation school in Warrenmount. They are most welcome to Seanad Éireann today.