It was 6 million in the case of the Jewish people alone and millions of others, to the extent that about 20 million altogether were exterminated in one way or another. Their lives were terminated. Their futures were terminated. Their families were terminated. Their raison dêtr e - the reason for their existence - was terminated. They had no future. We need to remember all of that and that when extremism takes over we need to have a way and means to stabilise and social cohesion is one of those ways and means. The G…

We were all poor, including those of us on this side of the House too.

There would not be much left in the kitty in that case.

I thank the Deputy. We were all poor.

We are way over time. Given that this is an important and complicated subject, I allowed the debate to proceed in deference to both the Deputy and the Minister of State. The Deputy has two minutes for her second contribution. I ask that she keep it to the shortest possible time in order that we meet the deadline and facilitate the Members waiting to speak.

The Minister of State may give a very short, abbreviated response.

Seanad Éireann has passed the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2024, without amendment.

I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House to reply to this debate. This is a very emotive and important issue in my constituency. It has been going on for more than a year now. The Minister of State, to be fair to him, has been very active in attempting to come to a resolution. So far, unfortunately, his efforts have not been greeted with success, but we hope things will change very shortly because we all have to answer to our constituents. That is one of the things we have the pleasure of doing every…

Initially, I would like to be associated with the tributes to the late and former Deputy, Senator and Minister, Mary O'Rourke. We all knew her well in this House. I think I was elected to the House before her. She was a personality and she and both sides of her family made a huge contribution to public life in this country, over a long number of years. We should all realise that. I thank Deputy Wynne for taking the Chair. I appreciate the fact that the Minister of State is making every effort to resolve the problem…

Negativity.

That is not true.

I support the sentiments expressed by my colleagues and acknowledge what the Minister has undertaken. I will point out that, in my time in public life, I have never seen the level of violence towards women and mothers of children that I have seen in the past couple of years and in the past two years in particular. There is also this friction whereby the victim has to pursue the other partner for maintenance. This is a recurring factor and brings the two into contact. The continuous barrage of abuse is really fright…

I acknowledge the successes of An Garda Síochána, particularly in recent times, by way of interruption and seizing large amounts of illicit drugs. I support the Minister in her efforts to bring about a reduction in drug usage in this country. We need to have a debate but I do not propose to have it here today. Some in the community will say that this needs to be dealt with medically and there is no other way. That is not true. No drugs are safe unless prescribed by a medical person. The medical profession will alwa…

The question seeks to ascertain the extent to which production, husbandry, slaughtering and checking facilities continue to prevail throughout all areas of the agri-food business sector and that the same standards are applied to food imports for the home market as well as exports.

Given that we have had a couple of glitches in the past, including the recent past, in the standards that should have applied at abattoirs throughout the European Union, including in this country, is the Minister satisfied that all abattoirs and all areas where food products are prepared are sufficiently alerted to the necessity to keep to the highest possible standards? The Minister referred to the wide markets involved. It is important to ensure that we are at least on par with those standards or ahead of them.

I will also mention the existence previously of so-called horse burgers. Have they been eliminated from the food chain? Is the Minister satisfied that no opportunity exists for anybody to bypass the system? The standards that are applicable here also apply to food imports into this country, particularly from third countries. Is the Minister satisfied that the level of inspection is sufficient to ensure the highest possible standards at all stages?

Following up on the last line of questions, what is the extent to which research continues to take place in order to establish the effect on other species or a variation of the disease affecting other species? Regarding the various ash species, for example, American ash, has that species been affected to the same extent? From casual observation, it does not look like as though it has. This might be of some interest to people who find themselves in the position of having to replace forestry.

Is it not assumed that all farmers benefit from the supports available to agriculture in one way or another? Is it not unwise to give the impression that we are anti-profit? I do not know anybody who works for nothing. If the Deputy opposite is suggesting that would be a good thing and beneficial to the agrifood sector in this country, there is a clear and unequivocal answer to that. All farmers, large and small, rich and poor, are entitled to produce food for the country and, as a result, need to be treated equall…

I agree with the sentiments expressed by the previous speakers in regard to the availability of convenient cash for the consumer because the consumer or the customer is the most important person. We have learned this on many occasions over the years. A classic example was that we had a cash machine here in this House which was very convenient for many people. It was in a secure place for staff and Members of the House. What happened? During Covid, some wise guy somewhere decided to remove it on the basis that there…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to address this issue. I apologise that I was not able to get back into the House the other night due to a roads diversion. This issue has been aired many times over the years. I happened to be on a programme with a journalist recently who had to face that particular problem. He and his spouse found all the obstacles put on the course. I was thinking about it afterwards and I discovered that we all try to resolve those issue on a case-by-case basis. There does n…