An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-24
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Fiona O'Loughlin (FF), Administrative Panel

I add my voice to the Cathaoirleach's words of support for the people of Ukraine. It is always a pleasure to see and meet H.E. Larysa Gerasko. As the Cathaoirleach said, it is sad that we have to meet her so often and to think we have seen four long years of a war of aggression against a very fine, courageous and resilient people. I am thinking of all of those who are still living in Ukraine, those who have had to leave and, of course, all of those who have chosen to make Ireland their home.
Last week, we saw the Chinese New Year. We are now into the Year of the Horse, which is timely, particularly for County Kildare and all those areas that depend a lot on the horse industry. The Horse Racing Ireland statistics for what the horse means for the Irish economy showed that in 2022, there was €2.46 billion in direct and stimulated economic activity arising from breeding, training, racing, employment, sales and so on, and another €1 billion in relation to the sports horse. That is significant. One of the organisations that are important to the equine industry in Ireland is the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association, ITBA, which celebrates 100 years this year. It is an important organisation that represents the breeding industry. It does great work to ensure that Ireland has one of the best and most successful breeding industries in the world. Cathal Beale is the present chair. I pay tribute to the only two ladies that it has ever had, Eimear Haughey and Cathy Grassick, who have done excellent work. It is important that we acknowledge the 100 years. I have written to the Chair of the new Oireachtas racing committee to say that we should acknowledge that here in Leinster House.
I would also like to raise Ireland's eating disorders awareness week, which is this week. This serves as an important annual reminder of the prevalence of eating disorders, their harms, how they can be detected and how they can be prevented. It is estimated that approximately 1,757 new cases occur in Ireland every year in the ten-to-49 age group. A 2025 study showed that hospital admissions for eating disorders in under-18s had more than doubled in Ireland. They are stark statistics. The average age is between 12 and 25. I would like to see, at some point, a debate on eating disorders in this House, and how we detect, prevent and treat them.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-24