I ask the Acting Leader to outline the Order of Business for today.
An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding the report of the Dublin Citizens’ Assembly to the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, referral to committee, to be taken on the conclusion of the Order of Business, without debate; No. 2, motion regarding the referral of the report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss to the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action, referral to committee, to be taken on the conclusion of No. 1, without debate; No. 3, motion regarding the Technological Universities Act 2018 (Section 44F) (Appointed Day) Order 2023, back from committee, to be taken on the conclusion of No. 2, without debate; No. 4., address to Seanad Éireann by Ms Maura Healey, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to be taken at 3 p.m. in accordance with the arrangements agreed in the motion passed by the House on Tuesday, 20 June 2023; Nos. 5 and 6, motions regarding the continuance of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 (No. 39 of 1998) and the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009 (No. 32 of 2009), respectively, to be taken at 4.30 p.m. and to conclude at 5.30 p.m., if not previously concluded, and the motions shall be discussed together, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed five minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed seven minutes and all other Senators not to exceed five minutes, and with the Minister to be given not less than five minutes to reply to the debate; and No. 131, Private Members' motion No. 9 regarding EU migration, to be taken at 6 p.m., with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours.
I support the Order of Business.
My contribution relates to the issue of the waiting times for the driver's test. I was informed by one of my party's councillors today in County Kilkenny that two constituents received a driver's test notification for next year and that is the earliest date that they could secure. Can the Minister for Transport be invited to this House to outline what can be done to ensure people can get driving tests? Drivers, especially young people, need a full licence to travel to work, but also to go to college in some cases because they cannot afford the rent in Dublin and, therefore, have to commute and car-pool. In that regard, we need a full debate with the Minister regarding the issue of the driver test times and what he will do to make sure that people are not waiting until next year to have their test.
I support the Order of Business. I particularly welcome that we are taking the Government motion relating to the proposal that the report of the Dublin Citizens' Assembly be referred to the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, of which I am a member, but we need to be clear about something. I do not know the motive behind the Government motion other than the words that are before us today. It is important that we do not repeat, reconsider or rehash what the citizens' assembly has done because it has done its work. I do not know the Government's expectation of the outcome but it is important that we have consultation with elected members in local government across the country, in particular, Dublin city and county councillors and civil society, and business and the chamber of commerce. Let us be clear. The motion proposes to refer the Dublin Citizens’ Assembly report to the Oireachtas joint committee, with which I have no difficulty, but also "to consider the recommendations contained therein and to advise on the requirement for the holding of a plebiscite to determine if Dublin should have a directly-elected Mayor ... and, if so, to propose a draft wording for such a plebiscite". I draw Senators' attention to the recommendations of the citizens' assembly dated December 2022, and the final recommendation: "Recommendation 18: Decision about a directly-elected Mayor of Dublin", which states, "There should be a plebiscite of the local electorate of Dublin to determine whether or not Dublin should have a directly-elected Mayor." We need to be conscious of that. We cannot have it both ways. A citizens' assembly was appointed. They have done their work and I acknowledge the significant and important work they have done. We now have a Government motion before us ion whether there should or should not be a plebiscite and the wording of such a plebiscite, and that is the restrictive narrative of this proposal. We had a debate in the House on this. The citizens' assembly, which had elected councillors on it, states in recommendation 18: "There should be a plebiscite of the local electorate of Dublin to determine whether or not Dublin should have a directly-elected Mayor." Effectively, the debate is more or less over. That is what the citizens' assembly has asked. I want to put on record my support for the citizens' assembly and the elected members on it. I will be at all times robustly arguing that there be a plebiscite of the people of Dublin city and county, which is currently represented by four local authorities, namely Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Dublin City Council, Dublin Fingal and South Dublin County Council. Let us be clear about the scope and the ask.
I do not know the rationale for the Government's motion but I think it is interesting. We need to find out more about the detail.
I am sure the Cathaoirleach will join me in these sentiments shortly. It is my great privilege and pleasure to welcome to the Gallery Mr. Frank Allen, playwright and film scriptwriter, and his niece, Ms Roberts. I had the privilege of teaching at the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee, VEC, with Mr. Allen many years ago. It is now the education and training board, ETB. Mr. Allen since wrote Twelve Days in May, a play about the life of James Connolly and his execution and that of the other leaders of the 1916 Rising. The play has won critical acclaim and had full houses for a fortnight in Dublin. He is now in the process of producing a major film with considerable international support. I am a supporter of the arts, as are the Cathaoirleach and Acting Leader. It is great when we have people such as Mr. Allen in our communities. It is great to have him here. The Seanad and the arts have been inextricably linked, down the years.
We are in a reasonably good budgetary situation as we approach the budget. I want to impress on the Acting Leader, and through her on the Government, that we need to address waiting lists for children. Intervention is important. The first waiting list that needs to be addressed and virtually eliminated is the one for child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. If we delay an intervention, we will create a dreadful scenario. The Acting Leader and Cathaoirleach, as former teachers, understand the need for intervention.
I am pleased with the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. She is committed to her Department and proactive. There has been an improvement in children's waiting lists for assessments around autism and various educational disabilities. There have been improvements there but there is a difficulty which needs addressing around delivering the follow-up services. I would like to think the Acting Leader will respond. I would like her to convey to the Government that we need to reduce all waiting lists for children as a priority and move up the demographic thereafter. Children cannot be left waiting for assessments for autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and various educational issues. Those interventions are urgent. They must be quick, timely and comprehensive. I would like a response on that point.
It would be timely, in a pre-budget situation, if the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, came into the House and we discussed the whole area of waiting lists, follow-up to the waiting lists, actioning what is achieved at the assessment stage and putting results in place.
I, too, welcome Mr. Allen and Ms Roberts to the Public Gallery and thank them for being here. I thank Mr. Allen for his excellent work. I had the pleasure of meeting him with Senator Joe O'Reilly in Buswell's Hotel a couple of days ago. He is welcome.
I join Senator Joe O'Reilly in welcoming his guests to the Gallery.
Last week, I raised the now notorious legacy legislation that the British Government is pursuing full steam ahead, it seems, despite universal opposition and all of the legitimate concern expressed by victims and survivors, legal, academic and human rights stakeholders. I welcome the fact that last week, the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement issued a statement calling on the British Government to withdraw the legacy Bill. In its call, the committee called on the Irish Government to consider interstate litigation in the European Court of Human Rights if the British Government does not withdraw that legislation. The statement continued: "This course of action would demonstrate tangible support and solidarity with victims' campaigners by sparing them the costly and arduous task of bringing individual cases to challenge the Bill."
The call by the committee on the Irish Government to consider interstate litigation is the appropriate reaction to the callous and uncaring attitude of the British Government despite widespread opposition to the Bill across Ireland, Britain, the US and the EU in political and human rights circles.
Relatives and their organisations rightly see this call for the Irish Government to take the British Government to the European Court of Human Rights if the legacy Bill is enacted as tangible support for and solidarity with them. Such support and solidarity would give them great hope that they are not alone at a time of fear and uncertainty that the British Government will get away with protecting those who killed their loved ones by denying relatives the truth. I am sure that we, the Seanad, given our unanimous opposition to the legacy proposals, can join the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in making a call on the British Government to withdraw its legacy proposals. If it does not, I hope we can encourage the Irish Government to take the necessary step to initiate interstate action.
It is difficult to find a hook for the Seanad, given the commercial nature of the issue, but I will endeavour to try to do so. There is huge frustration, anger and resentment about moves to put a number of the GAA championship quarter-final games this Saturday behind a paywall. I do not understand why Saturday's two matches, the Tyrone and Kerry game and the Armagh and Monaghan game, would be behind a paywall on GAAGO and then, on Sunday, the Derry versus Cork and Dublin versus Mayo games would be broadcast on RTÉ. I do not understand where the decision is made or what the rationale for this is. We heard from the uachtaráin of the GAA recently that the GAA is a member-led, community-rooted organisation. We know that young people need to see their heroes because you need to see it in order to be it. As a champion for senior citizens in this House, the Leader knows that many people do not have the GAAGO app or the ability to pay for it. I hope to pursue this by means of a Commencement matter this week, if the Cathaoirleach facilitates it, in order to try to get some clarity. At a political, community and cultural level, however, we must make a call to ensure that such important games are not so inaccessible and are universally accessible to all of us, as Gaels, fans and citizens.
I express my solidarity with the workers of Iceland Foods, some of whom have had to stage a sit-in at the Talbot Street store. I was with them late last night. It is shameful that they feel they have to stage a sit-in in order to get the wages that are due to them. Some are owed more than €1,000. These are minimum-wage jobs. The staff are owed holiday pay. It is shameful that some people have gone to the Department of Social Protection to find out that their employment was terminated a week before they actually finished working in the employment. There are very serious issues now with regard to the conduct of the company that took over the Iceland shops. I refer to its compliance with collective redundancy legislation and how it has terminated the contracts of some people. I extend my solidarity to those workers.
As I speak, we have RTÉ employees across the country staging protests outside Montrose and elsewhere. It is important, amid the crisis that is engulfing the national broadcaster, to express our solidarity with those employees because, in some cases, they have given a lifetime of commitment to public service, to bring us sport, current affairs and entertainment. They have been treated with utter disrespect. This is very frustrating for those of us who want to have a strong national broadcaster. We very much need that in this country. We do not want to go down the road of other countries. What has happened has given rise to profound questions with regard to the RTÉ board and how it could function and not have oversight of some of the large commercial contracts agreed by the organisation and fees paid to some of its staff. There are also questions about RTÉ's business model, in which it can treat some of its workers like gods, yet effectively then have a penny-pinching approach to other employees. We need value for money but it has to be right across the board.
The key issue is that some workers were told that projects had to be abandoned and pay increases had to be constrained, all in the name of bringing RTÉ into a sustainable financial position. RTÉ needs massive investment but it has done itself an enormous disservice. The clarion call across the political system has to be that we need to hear from both current and former RTÉ executives as to what exactly happened. The very survival of RTÉ is at stake now, and we need a strong national broadcaster. It simply cannot be countenanced that we would see any sort of reform or taking apart of our national broadcaster because of the sins of a few.
I join other colleagues in welcoming Frank Allen and his niece to the Chamber. I know Frank very well. He is a wonderful writer and I am a huge fan of his work. It is great to have him here today.
I want to raise a topic that has been covered in this Chamber several times, namely, the British Government's Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill. I have remarked on it previously many times and many other Senators, including Senator Ó Donnghaile, have spoken passionately about it. It is a rare issue that unites every political party, North and South. Every political force on this island is outraged by the legislation that will effectively end inquests, police ombudsman investigations, civil cases and police investigations into crimes committed as part of the conflict. This is a blatant denial of access to justice for victims and campaigners. It is an attack on the truth and a crude attempt to impose impunity. At a time we have been celebrating the triumph of peace-making, consensus-building and diplomacy of the Good Friday Agreement, it truly is bizarre and upsetting to see the British Government press forward with what I think is a catastrophic unilateral action. It is an action that disregards the views of almost every victims' representative organisation, civil society organisations, church leaders, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Council of Europe, as well as Westminster's Joint Committee on Human Rights. With the negotiation of the Windsor Framework for the Northern Ireland protocol and the cessation of political chaos within the British Government, it has felt like a cautiously hopeful time for Irish-British diplomatic relations that have been so battered by the Brexit process. I am concerned that these relations will be further strained if the British Government does not step back from this cliff. The legacy Bill represents the abandonment of the 2014 Stormont House Agreement in which parties in the North, as well as the British and Irish Governments, agreed on a common approach to legacy issues and a means of enabling victims campaigners to pursue justice. That agreement was endorsed again by both governments in the Fresh Start Agreement of 2015 and the New Decade, New Approach Deal of 2020. The British Government's intent to deviate from these agreements signals a lack of respect for political institutions North and South, and a callous disregard of the families of victims that they are retraumatising.
I want to highlight the fact that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement has issued a strong statement against this legislation. It includes a commitment to ask the Government to take up interstate litigation in the European Court of Human Rights if negotiations fail to halt the Bill. This would be a way for the State to demonstrate its commitment to supporting the families of victims of the Troubles, as well as the established principles of European rights law. I ask everyone to stay engaged on this issue. We need to do all we can for these families.
First, I congratulate our Special Olympians. I think 73 of them participated in the games. Along with their families and their coaches, they have done our country proud. When you see them performing and clutching the Irish flag, you can see that they are proud people. They have such great supporters as well. I am sure everybody will support my comments in congratulating them and wishing them well.
Second, I welcome the fact in the month of May, more mortgages were approved than in any period since 2011. This is a clear signal that Government housing policy is working. Just short of 5,000 mortgages were approved in May, valued at €1.4 billion. I am not saying that the housing crisis is over; it is not. Clearly, it is a positive step that people are finding ways onto the property ladder. The help-to-buy scheme and the first home scheme, in particular, are actually working for people.
From dealing with people, meeting them and pointing them in the right direction, I know they are having success in that regard, and my colleagues throughout the country tell me the same is happening elsewhere. Of course, we always have to be cautious of the continuing rise in interest rates and strive to control inflation because the last thing we want is people, especially first-time buyers, getting into difficulty because of the continuing increases in interest rates. I hope we are now near the end of those rises and that people who have planned for the future and bought property will be in a position to be able to continue to pay those mortgages and not go into arrears.
I think this is a good story and I hope it will continue. What we all want to see is more housing, more people being able to buy houses and more people having a roof over their heads. That is extremely important.
About 28 years ago, I visited Ghana in Africa. If I had known then what I know now, I might have behaved differently. I was a young mother trying to keep an eye on my two children. At the time, Africa, and particularly Ghana, was very poor, and every time you left the hotel, children would gather around you, begging for money, sweets or something else. While I was staying at that hotel, I witnessed a number of elderly and middle-aged men coming back to the hotel with children. Of course, back then, there was no Internet like we have now, and I did not know about the things that could happen to children. I was a young mother, and I would not have thought anyone could behave in the way some did. Nevertheless, it was clear these men were using those children for sex.
That brings me to a report released last week, because now I know different. I have been involved in fostering more than 120 children over the past 12 years. The report, Protecting Against Predators, is really scary. Will the Acting Leader please invite Dr. Mary Canning, Dr. Marie Keenan and Ms Ruth Breslin to come before the Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth in regard to the report? It is harrowing to think about what is happening to our children, especially in State care.
People have fed into the report and it has come not just from Tusla but from An Garda Síochána, the Children's Rights Alliance, DEIS school communities, foster parents and Tusla itself. Children are being victimised, sexualised and groomed, and predators are waiting outside these residential units. What is worse, it was reported in 2017 that 62 unaccompanied children seeking asylum in Ireland had gone missing from State care, 45 of whom remain unaccounted for. We have to give a voice to these children. They are the most precious children in our State and do not have families to look after them or anyone to give them a voice. Nobody is talking about this report; they are all talking about Ryan Tubridy. I could not give a rat's about Ryan Tubridy, but I do care about this report. Will the Acting Leader please write to the children's committee and urge it to invite these people to appear before it to give a full account of what is happening to children in residential care?
I raise an issue I raised last week, regarding the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss. Senator Boyhan raised the recommendations of the Dublin Citizens' Assembly on a directly elected mayor, but I have concerns about the fact the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action has been asked to review the report of the biodiversity citizens' assembly, which is an excellent report with more than 150 recommendations that go across the board in respect of all the sectors that relate to where we are suffering from biodiversity loss. Either the climate action committee needs to have more resources or, as was preferable, a special committee should have been set up, such as was done with the climate action committee, in order that we can engage with the report and give it the respect it deserves. The citizens have done an incredible job and now it deserves to be given time and respect to allow us to reflect on their recommendations. The House is being asked to recommend that the report go to the climate action committee but I think it would have been preferable to set up a special committee for it. In lieu of that, at the least, when the request comes from the climate action committee for more resources to allow us to do that work, that should be granted because this is such an important issue.
On other nature restoration issues, it is deeply disappointing to hear that the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, or ENVI committee, at the European Parliament could not get a majority to endorse the nature restoration law today. Biodiversity is in dire straits and we are losing species by the day. We all have to show political leadership in addressing that and reversing the trend. I ask the European People's Party, EPP, group and its Fine Gael members here to speak to the MEPs. Every Irish MEP needs to support the nature restoration law when it comes to the full parliament. It is unfortunate the EPP substituted some of the members of the ENVI committee to ensure that vote would not happen today but it cannot do that at the plenary. I encourage everybody to speak to their MEPs and colleagues in Europe and ask them to endorse the nature restoration law.
Three years ago, I got a telephone call from the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, to be one of his 11 nominees. To think I am still here three years later is incredible.
Almost three years ago, a report called No End in Site was launched. It was about a specific halting site where children lived in dire accommodation. Where is that report? To the best of my knowledge, not one of the recommendations has been implemented in the past two and a half years. It is my job as a Member of this House and, most important, as a member of the Traveller community to speak on these issues and keep the pressure on the Government to bring about quality of life for members of the Traveller community and other ethnic minority groups. It is almost three years since that report was launched. It was all over the media how Traveller children were treated in society. As a young girl in Ballyfermot, on the Labre Park halting site I talk about a lot, I ended up in Our Lady’s Hospital several times with infections due to the living conditions. I have a lot of empathy for those children. We need those recommendations to be implemented. I am looking for a debate on where we are with the recommendations, what is next and how we can move that report forward into action. What is wrong with us is that we have so many plans but very little action behind them?
The worrying part is not that the Senator is still a Member of the House; it is that it is three years since we were all convened to the Seanad and time is flying.
It is actually four years. You are a year older than you thought you were, a Chathaoirligh.
No, it is three years. Senator Flynn is right. It was 2020.
It has been three years for me. I started here a few months after other Senators.
The time is still flying.
We started the Order of Business with Senator Mark Daly, who spoke about waiting times for driver tests and how difficult it was for young people, which we understand, particularly those starting to work or who have to drive to college or university because of the cost of accommodation. The Minister gave extra funding and resources to driver test centres. For example, in Kildare, we have three more testers in Naas. I have no doubt this is causing a problem for young people in particular. We will submit a question on the matter to the Minister. I also suggest the Senator tables a Commencement matter to get the finer details.
Senator Boyhan referred to the report on the Dublin Citizens' Assembly. I agree that we do not need to rehash the debate; we have had it. It is important we have consultation with local authority members and the business community. We need to respect what the citizens' assembly has said, otherwise there would be no point in the citizens involved giving up almost a year of their lives and putting so much time and thought into the work they do. My friend, Mary Doyle, is in the Visitors Gallery and she, along with me, visited Bad Lippspringe, Newbridge’s twin town in Germany. We have seen the positive effects of a directly elected mayor with excellent executive powers and good finance.
It makes a huge difference to towns and cities. We certainly would want to see the report implemented but I understand that we are only referring it to the committee today. It will then come back to the Seanad for further debate.
Senator Joe O'Reilly welcomed the playwright, Frank Allen. It is good to have him here. We are always delighted to have people of such note in the Public Gallery. It is also lovely to see his niece, Ms Roberts, here as well. I wish him the very best of luck with the film he is producing. The Senator also raised the issue of waiting lists for children and an intervention with CAMHS. It is the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, and not the Minister of State, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, who deals with this. We will certainly, however, submit a request for a debate on this issue. We are all concerned to ensure we have positive mental health supports and that we put everything required in place when young people are undergoing mental health issues, especially in a school setting, etc. There is no greater priority in my view.
Senator Ó Donnghaile spoke about the UK legacy legislation. There is universal opposition to it. I am glad the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement has issued its statement. I spoke about this issue, as Senator Joe O'Reilly will know, in the European Parliament last week at the meeting of the Council of Europe. On that day, 21 June, the House of Lords was debating this legacy Bill. It is a disgrace. Many of my colleagues and I have grave concerns regarding it. It completely goes against the spirit of reconciliation and truth that the Good Friday Agreement put in place. I certainly agree that if negotiations fail to stop this legislation, its incompatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights would be sufficient for the State to take a case to Europe. We would all support that. The Senator also spoke about the paywall for GAA matches and that two matches on Saturday will be behind it, while another two matches on Sunday will not. This is wrong. We should have universality of access. We will bring this issue to the attention of the Minister of State with special responsibility for sport, Deputy Thomas Byrne, and the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, because we all feel strongly about it.
Senator Sherlock spoke about solidarity with the former Iceland workers. As we know, a new company has taken this business over but there are major concerns about its conduct. We must stand in solidarity with those workers. The Senator also spoke about the workers in RTÉ. We express our solidarity with them. Many people in RTÉ have always worked sincerely and honestly. It is important that we have them to report to us on current affairs, sport and entertainment. I refer to the excellent work that "Prime Time" and other programmes do in trying to uncover deception and fraud. What is happening at the broadcaster is a disaster. Two committees will hear from RTÉ executives this week and it is important we give them the opportunity to do that without pre-empting what is going to emerge from those meetings.
Senator Black also spoke about her grave concerns about the legacy Bill in the UK Parliament. As I mentioned, we support her stance and that of Senator Ó Donnghaile in this regard.
I am glad that Senator Murphy mentioned the return of the Special Olympians to Dublin Airport yesterday. Our 73 athletes came home with 75 gold medals, as well as many other metals. It was wonderful to see the joy on their faces. RTÉ did a wonderful job covering those games. I went to Berlin for the opening ceremony because I was involved in the Special Olympics World Summer Games held here 20 years ago, as was my friend, Mary Doyle, and many people around the country. Those were the first world games ever held outside America. It was a great privilege to be in Berlin and to witness the joy of our athletes from all over the world. Every time I met people from another country, they all spoke at some point about the welcome they got in Ireland 20 years ago. Those memories are really strong.
I have to mention a particular situation in Kildare. Last night, in Rathangan, which was one of the ten host towns in Kildare, we had a welcoming home ceremony for two of our athletes, Eoin Daly and Grace Kavanagh. I was privileged to help organise that and act as master of ceremonies on the night. If anybody wants to see unbridled joy and a community coming together, they should look at the videos that are out there. In a small village, more than 1,000 people came out and gave a parade of honour to our athletes. We had a wonderful night in the community centre. We saw achievement, dignity and nothing getting in the way of our athletes competing. Obviously, it is not just about winning. It is about the whole competitive element and being part of a big team. Our great congratulations go to our 73 Olympians from all over the world. It was great to see the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, there to welcome them home.
Senator Keogan spoke about being in Ghana many years ago and seeing what she has in retrospect realised were men bringing young children into hotels for sex. In innocent times, the Senator had no idea what was happening there. We have to be very concerned when we see anything that takes away children's innocence and dignity and puts them in the most horrific of situations, which has a very significant impact on them in their lives. On the report on children in State care, we will absolutely look for the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to deal with that as soon as possible. We will send a message to that committee straight after this. On the wider picture of children being groomed, unfortunately, this does not just happen in State care. The Senator also mentioned the children who are not accounted for. It is absolutely horrific. We will look for a debate here as well as in the committee. We will ask the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to come to the House for that debate.
Senator Boylan spoke about the climate report. There is a special committee engaging with this. There is a presentation at 10 a.m. tomorrow from members of the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss. I believe it is in the audiovisual room. It is important that we all attend, if we can, because the work the assembly did was very important and we need to make sure that it is valued. The Senator also mentioned the nature restoration law that is before the European Parliament at the moment. The Cathaoirleach will be pleased to hear that I am not going to get political about it but I am concerned about the position that the European People's Party has taken. I am glad that members of Renew Europe did not take the same position.
Senator Flynn was the final speaker. I thank her for all of the work she does for those who are marginalised. She spoke about the report on the living conditions of children in one of the major halting sites. Obviously, we need to support children who are marginalised in any situation. If they are ill because of their living conditions, we have to implement the recommendations of the report. A new joint committee has been set up to deal with different matters relating to Travellers, their living conditions and so on. I am sure that will be addressed in the committee but I suggest the Senator also give notice that she wishes to raise the matter by way of Commencement debate. Those are my responses to all of the issues raised on the Order of Business.
I join with the Senator and Senator Murphy in congratulating our Special Olympians on bringing much joy to all of us, to their families and to themselves. Watching the RTÉ news coverage of the games and seeing the joy and excitement was just unbelievable. Like the Senators, I thank all of the families, coaches and different organisations involved and extend great congratulations to them on our behalf.
Order of Business agreed to.