I also have time.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to speak on public order and safe streets. That community fund from the Criminal Assets Bureau is very important and crucial. That is going to deliver different types of activities, including sports activities. It will be used to engage people in many different areas, particularly the rural areas I am looking at. I am on the joint policing committee in Roscommon, so I get updates about the activities there. I understand the importance of the community liaison. O…

I support Senator Buttimer in offering condolences to those whose loved ones lost their lives in the United States. Club Q was the heart of the LGBT community. I hail those who put their lives on the line to stop the attack. It is absolutely incredible. As has been mentioned, I support the Garda today on the work it does in our communities day in, day out. The incident that has been mentioned was shocking. We need to stand up for our gardaí, as at the vigil now taking place in Ballyfermot. What occurred was an atta…

I also offer my condolences to Bridget Doody on her loss. I want to thank the students who have joined us. I hope that they are enjoying their day in Leinster House. It is great to see. It is great to see that we are engaging with some of the businesses in our communities. The Minister of State, Deputy English, attended a public meeting on businesses to highlight supports in the budget for businesses under the temporary business energy support scheme. I look forward to meeting Ministers on the potential cycleway in…

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome her to the House, along with the councillors who are present. We also have representatives from Ballinasloe who are part of that group, Séamus and Cathal, who have joined us and represent business groups in Ballinasloe. The HSE came to the fore during the Covid crisis to support nursing homes with personal protective equipment for staff and oxygen. I know those supports continue but we have had nursing home closures in my area, including the 25-bed Stella Maris nursing home …

I pass on my sympathies and deep condolences on the very sad news of the loss of Vicky Phelan. Last week, we saw the mid-term elections in the US and a groundswell of support for candidates who stood up for the democratic and electoral process. They stood up for women's choice. One of those candidates has ancestral links with my home town of Ballinasloe - Béal Átha na Sluaighe. I congratulate Governor Maura Healey from the Democratic Party. She is the first woman to hold the position of governor in Massachusetts an…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House for this debate. I got to hear some of her speech. I understand there are no copies of her opening statement available, which is funny given that we are talking about trees, timber and paper. If we are not going to be provided with paper copies of speeches, perhaps they could be emailed to us when the opening statement is made. I have questions for the Minister of State around the industry in my local area of Roscommon and east Galway. Senator Doherty and I were…

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Mary Butler. I am sharing this Commencement matter with Senator Eugene Murphy. We met with Annette, Cathy, Martina and Nora. These are all people who work in Portiuncula University Hospital in Ballinasloe. These are people who were on the front line all during the pandemic. They were our hospital warriors in the face of Covid-19. They were our warriors that went out every single day and left their families at home when we were asked to stay at home…

I take it from the Minister of State's explanation that contract cleaners and caterers are included in this. Is that correct?

The Minister of State's written response notes that packs have now been issued to 750 relevant organisations, including agency organisations. The agencies I am concerned with, particularly around the Saolta university hospital healthcare group, which includes Portiuncula and other hospitals, are Aramark catering and Noonan cleaning services. That would include the security porters.

I thank the Minister of State for coming before the House. It is very good to see the progress being made. In the area in which I live, I see progress on the ground. I see houses being built. There are 40 local authority housing units being built at a turnkey development. Galway County Council took that project on. I live in an area where there is a huge demand for housing and for rental properties, which cannot be found anywhere at the moment. We are in dire need. The challenges we face particularly relate to HAP.…

The Leader has heard from a number of Members about special schools and the summer programme. Roughly €40 million has been allocated to the programme. I asked about it and principals came to me with some feedback. One in four schools rolled the programme out last year but we need more of our mainstream schools doing so as well because we are looking to bring children with special needs into our mainstream schools and for our special schools to handle children with more severe to complex, challenging needs. It needs…

I shall give half of my time to Senator Tim Lombard. I came in here believing that we had turned a corner. I say that because what started out as a fantastic initiative has caused a hell of a lot of difficulties and division in rural areas. Now, I have heard Senator Chambers say here that our raising this as a major issue for rural areas is somehow a difficulty. We represent the families who were impacted by this.

Right.

Many Senators in this Chamber raised school transport as a major issue.

As the Minister is aware, the initiative has caused a lot of difficulties and division. The initiative is fantastic but I, like many representatives here and every public representative, have had to deal with families who were in tears when telling me about trying to manage work and leave in time to collect their children because they could no longer rely on buses that they had availed of for years. I must admit that I am pretty taken aback. The Minister spoke about effectiveness and sustainability. When will we se…

We received fantastic news last Thursday with the notice from the Minster for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, of an allocation of funding for out-of-hours GP services. I have raised this a number of times here in the Seanad on the Order of Business but also through Commencement matters. It was a crisis for our GP network. I am so grateful that the Department of Health and the Minister are looking, seeing and supporting GPs in our region. It has been a long haul for those…

I welcome the Minister of State. Is it not wonderful that more students with a third level degree will now be able to take part in the electoral process for Seanad Éireann? It will make the Seanad a lot more relevant to young people, and that is what we want to see. We want people involved in what we do in this House day to day in order that they care about their representatives, who come through the universities and the colleges. In that context, I welcome the Bill. I pay tribute to the Minister for Further and Hi…

The Deputy Leader will be aware that the Westdoc service covers her area as it covers counties Galway, Roscommon and Mayo. We have raised this issue, along with our public representatives here, and I know that Senator Murphy had a meeting with the Minister for Health last week. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Rabbitte, is fighting for this and is very engaged. We have 15,000 families who live in south-east Galway and south County Roscommon that are not currently covered by the Westdoc serv…

The Minister, Deputy Donohoe was here earlier and the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming is with us now. I want to talk about the benefits we have seen from the budget and about the supports we need to put in place for business. It is crucial that we see that this budget is backing business and that is why there has been a review of the 9% VAT rate for hospitality. It is crucial that we look at how we support businesses, not just in urban centres but in regional areas of Ireland. We know that in our city centre loca…