An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-23 ============================================================ Fiona O'Loughlin (FF), Administrative Panel I formally congratulate Senator Ahearn on taking up his position. I had the opportunity to congratulate him on Thursday in his absence, but it is important that I do it again, particularly in the presence of Laura, Jamie, Daniel, his dad and his siblings. It is a great honour indeed for him. I have always found him to be very fair, very engaging and very receptive. He absolutely has the ability to make decisions, and that is something we all have to learn. Also, he has a great presence about him. Meeting dignitaries, ambassadors and so on is a very important part of the role. I look forward to working with him and wish him well in the time ahead. There are a number of issues I want to raise. First, the Organisation of National Ex-Service Personnel, ONE, recently published a comprehensive study revealing that Ireland was a significant outlier in its approach to veterans policy, legislation and support services. ONE is the national veteran society and Cormac Kirwan is its hard-working chief executive. Its study had a number of key findings, particularly around the fact that 140,000 veterans of the Defence Forces were really an invisible population. A minority of them have many unaddressed issues. Although the Government has established the Office of Veterans Affairs, more needs to be done. More action needs to be taken regarding a legal definition of the word “veteran”, which is not in legislation, and also regarding the commissioning of an independent evaluation of Defence Forces transition supports and the establishment of a national council of veteran associations. I would like to have a debate in the House on that. I would also like to mention Cuan Mhuire. Before its 60th anniversary, I mentioned here that I would be attending the event. It really was very moving. I acknowledge Senator Murphy’s role within Cuan Mhuire, and indeed the roles of his mother and sister. Cuan Mhuire is Ireland’s largest voluntary addiction treatment provider. Sixty years after she founded the organisation, Sr. Consilio continues to do wonderful work, along with Nicola Kelly, chair Paul O’Donoghue, the wonderful staff and, of course, an excellent board. However, they need increased, sustained funding and support to meet their needs. While we have to accept that funding is rising, the level of need is rising faster and treatment is more complex. I would like to have a debate on addiction and how we support those who support those who are in addiction or trying to recover. I want to mention a great friend of mine, Teresa Harrison, who sadly passed away over the last few days. She was a legend in her own time and the most incredible volunteer you ever met – for the Community Games, the Special Olympics and the St. Patrick’s Day parade, to mention but a few. Teresa was always full of fun, humour and compassion, and was always there to help and support whoever she could. Her two daughters, Pauline and Deirdre, and the wider family are obviously devastated to lose her, but her legacy will absolutely live on in her incredible volunteerism. I was fortunate enough to spend a little time by her bedside two weeks ago. What I learned from her about how to die well as well as how to live well is really important. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-23/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:05+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-23