As the Minister is about to leave, I acknowledge and thank him. We are delighted to hear the protocols will be extended to both St. John's and Nenagh hospitals because that was one of the significant requests in our motion. We now know that element of the motion will be actioned. That is fresh news. The healthcare community in the mid-west will welcome it this evening. On my behalf and that of Senator Byrne, I thank the House for its support for this motion. It is a critically important motion. While we are in gove…

As the Ministers of State must attend a vote in the Dáil, we will suspend the House.

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Education, Deputy Josepha Madigan, to the House.

I believe this is the first visit of the Minister of State, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell, to the House.

My apologies; it is my first time meeting him as Minister of State.

It is a privilege for me, while in the Chair, to welcome my neighbour and good friend, the Minister of State, and I congratulate him on his appointment.

I thank the Minister of State. I would like to acknowledge the sterling work that Senator Davitt does in this area on a regular basis in this House.

Senator Boyhan has decades of experience in this area. When he speaks, he speaks with authority.

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. I have raised directly with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, in recent weeks and before Christmas the issue of hotel providers not receiving payment for a number of months for hosting Ukrainians. It has come to my attention again this week that a number of hotel providers in County Clare have not received payment from the Department since September or October. These people are owed tens of thou…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. It is wonderful to welcome the Minister of State on her first visit to the Seanad in her new role. The issue I have submitted as a Commencement matter is an important one. There is a scheme for persons with disabilities who have a primary medical certificate to claim back VRT and VAT or have them waived as a driver or passenger. The scheme is also open to charities. The current limits are €10,000, €16,000 and €22,000. The €10,000 limit applies to drivers and the €16,000 limit appl…

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I welcome the fact that this issue is being reviewed. However, reviews can often take a significant length of time. In this case, the review needs to be short and snappy. As an aside, if I may, when firsts happen they should be acknowledged. I am here 12 years next April and it is the first time a Minister has ever contacted me to know what font I would like the reply in. Not alone does the Minister of State get equality but she gets disability. I thank her for that.

I was saddened to hear today of the death of Professor Michael O'Keeffe, who was one of the country's most renowned eye surgeons. He was a pioneer in his day and recognised worldwide for his contribution to the area of eye care. What made Michael exceptional was his generosity with his time, particularly in terms of the advocacy work he did on behalf of blind and visually impaired people, not just in Ireland but throughout Europe and the world. He will be sadly missed. Of course, his connections with Leinster House…

I welcome the Minister to the House. I appreciate how extraordinarily busy he is, so when he comes here it is noted and appreciated. The situation in emergency departments in recent months nationally has been very difficult. When we speak of it, we must take a moment to think of the people who are on trolleys: those who are very sick, and their anguish and suffering, and the worry and concern of their loved ones, especially as we come towards the end of the pandemic where there is still an element of fear. We must …

I will pick up on Senator Ahearn's point. This fund is very welcome. I would have hoped that there would have been more resources in it, but €2.9 million of that fund is coming to Clare. North-west Clare has thousands of Ukrainian residents, which has put a lot of pressure on some of the sports clubs and community groups and clubs, which have done sterling work in creating integration programmes and supports. It cannot be complicated; the money needs to flow down quickly because it is needed as soon as possible. It…

I offer my sincere apologies to the Senator for disturbing her but a vote has been called in the Dáil and the Minister of State has to go to the Chamber. We will suspend for the duration of the vote.

Senator Sherlock is to resume.

It is with a huge sense of pride and joy that I address Senator Buttimer as Cathaoirleach. It is an enormous pleasure for me to do that as he is one of my closest friends, not just politically but in life. He is somebody I speak to every day of the week irrespective of whether it is good or bad. If anyone wonders about his passion, and many people have spoken about passion, they would not want to sit beside him in Semple Stadium when Clare are ahead by a point in injury time against Cork. The Cathaoirleach's passio…

Like everyone else, I commend our colleague, Senator Joe O’Reilly, on his fantastic two years as Leas-Chathaoirleach. He was very fair in his role. His office is across the corridor from mine, so I regularly engage with him and Mary O’Connor. He, too, has huge literary knowledge and a phenomenal command of the English language, in terms of his speaking ability and construction of sentences.

An-mhaith, a chara, an-mhaith. He is pleasure to know. I have known Senator Joe O’Reilly since I was in Young Fine Gael a long time ago. I remember when he ran for the European elections in, I believe, 2009. We had great fun at the time. His work in the Council of Europe is very impressive. As regards Senator Daly, Mark is Mark. He pushed the boundaries beyond everyone’s expectations, as Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann. He did a wonderful job. As I said to him privately and in the House yesterday, I do not believe …

I also welcome this piece of legislation. I agree with Senator Boyhan and others that a lot has been achieved in the past two years. Sadly, very little was achieved in previous years so the Minister of State was starting from a very low base, but this is very welcome, as are the other measures. I support Senator Moynihan's view that we need a much broader debate on maternity leave across the public sector, in politics and every other aspect of society. We must do much more to get minority, diverse and disabled voic…