-----who is a young lad who is non-communicative. He is now in university in Atlantic Technical University, ATU, using the rapid prompting method, RPM, which some people have concerns about. Yet, it is a method of communication. Any method of communication that works should be used and supported. I ask that we look at these Acts and at whether gardaí are trained in interviewing non-verbal kids and at whether they are aware of these other various communication methods. It is all about protecting the kids.

I thank the Minister of State. I suppose her reply tells me that everything is okay and that everyone is satisfied but what we hear from parents and parents' groups does not correspond with what is in the statement from the Department of Justice. I ask that this be communicated to the Department of Justice. We need to sit own and tease out where the issues are, because there are issues of concern. Ultimately, we need to protect those who are most vulnerable in our society. What we hear, and what we heard at the com…

I concur with the comments of Senator Byrne with regard to an arts capital programme to add to the work that has been done by the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin. I second that fantastic proposal. There has been significant investment in the arts but a programme like that would allow us to increase the infrastructure throughout the country. I support that call. Also, with regard to the Young Social Innovators, I send congratulations to the students of Ballymahon Vocational School in Longford who were one of the w…

The Minister of State is very welcome. As Senator Cassells has said, this report came on the back of a strike that took place a number of years ago. Our children would not get to participate in sport if such a strike were to continue. The detail and evidence the committee was given by the various sporting organisations were stark. This issue affects more than just the three main pillar sports. If we delve into the matter, we see that in basketball 47 reports were made over the three-year period between 2017 and 201…

That is good to know and, as I said, that will link in with the sports capital application.

Yes. That is coming in order that we look at, as I said, identifying and prioritising where there is the lack of facilities. We have had discussions previously about the likes of hockey. We have qualified for world cups in the sport yet I think that in the whole province of Connacht we might have one outdoor hockey pitch. That is where we need to be looking at prioritising those facilities. I am delighted to hear that that will happen.

Perfect. That is good to know. I thank the Minister of State for that. It is important we have this discussion. I welcome the Minister of State's coming here and making sure that this report is not left on the shelf. It needs to be implemented. As I said, I ask that the Department contacts Coimisiún na Meán and makes sure that that engagement and conversation with the sporting organisations with regard to online abuse begins and that we make sure that every sporting organisation implements this within its code of c…

I thank the Minister for coming to the Chamber to discuss a query with regard to the Forestry Act 2014. Over the past number of years we have had objections and backlogs with forestry felling that have caused significant concern to the industry here. I know many improvements have been made and we are getting to a better place, which is important for the timber industry. However, there is something that I feel is an anomaly in the Forestry Act 2014. I am referring to the exemptions to the requirement for the need fo…

I thank the Minister. I accept that the local authority should put in place tree preservation orders but, unfortunately, it was not done in this instance. Part of the exemption is for trees outside a forest so it is about the legal interpretation of what is a tree and what is a forest. When we look up what a forest is, if more than 0.5 ha is under trees, it is a forest and the exemption does not apply, although that is just the opinion I have formed from my reading of it. The Act refers to “trees outside a forest”.…

First of all, I welcome Terri and Patrick from the transition year class in Mercy Secondary School, Ballymahon who are here with me today to see behind the scenes in Leinster House. I was not here yesterday to speak on the GAAGO issue. As treasurer of my own GAA club, I was out selling lotto tickets last Sunday evening. I am also a former chairperson of the Longford hurling board. I have gone to Croke Park with Longford GAA and I am involved with the underage game at home. My young fellow plays hurling with the Wes…

I pay tribute to Senator Flynn on her comments here this morning. Congratulations to our colleague, Senator Lisa Chambers, and her husband, Jarleth Munnelly, on their recent nuptials. I remind Members of the autism training that I mentioned yesterday. The first session of the training will take place in the audiovisual room on Thursday next. I ask Members to log on and register to take part in the session. It is important that we have a full complement on that day in order that we can start as we mean to go on. Par…

I concur with Senator Ó Donnghaile's remarks about Palestine. I met with the Palestinian ambassador here today. I support Senator Ó Donnghaile's comments.

I welcome two students and their teacher from my old school, St. Mel's in Longford. We have with us a couple of transition year students, Jamie and Joshua, and their teacher, Mr. Clyne. They are spending the day in Leinster House and getting a feel for some of the work that goes on behind the scenes here. I welcome them and wish them well in their studies. I got a great education at St. Mel's. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. It is a fantastic school. I have always advocated on its behalf and will continue to do…

I concur with the comments made by Senator Fitzpatrick. It is not just Fianna Fáil that has been pushing it; our colleagues in Fine Gael have been involved too. There is a housing policy group within our party that has been pushing these issues. Indeed, our colleague, Senator Cummins, has been very proactive in putting forward the whole issue of dereliction and supporting those grants.

I want to put that on the record. I also want to thank the Cathaoirleach and other colleagues for attending yesterday's event with AsIAm on autism awareness. I welcome the Houses of the Oireachtas initiative that involves all of the parliamentary community taking up autism training. I ask all Members of the Seanad and their staff to take up that training over the next number of months. We want to be one of the first autism-friendly parliaments in the world by the end of December 2023. That includes all 1,500 staff …

This matter relates to out-of-hours services at St. Joseph's Hospital, Longford. I will give the Minister of State a little background. In December 2022, the old MIDOC service that was there went into receivership and it left no permanent contract in place for the out-of-hours service, or the red-eye service, for evening and weekend services in Longford. To date, a permanent contract has not been put in place. There were times when the service was not available and people had to travel to Mullingar hospital. We hav…

The one line that stands out to me again is that the "interim arrangements will continue until at least 2 July". The interim arrangements to get a contract were meant to be until the end of January; then the end of April and now they are until 2 July. I acknowledge the agreement has to come from the doctors, but that is in conjunction with the HSE. This is a priority for us in Longford. It is not good enough for the constituents in my local area to know this is an interim arrangement. It is the only interim arrange…

I have a couple of issues to raise. The first is an anomaly in the Forestry Act 2014. We have seen the issues with trying to get licences in forestry and the backlog of felling licences yet to be issued. The anomaly in the Act means if there is an area of forestry in an urban area, which you would think would be protected to maintain green areas within our urban areas, a licence is not needed at all. That issue has arisen in an area in Athlone, where an application for planning was refused by the council based on t…

I wish to follow up on the points Senator McGahon made on the Croí Cónaithe scheme. The Government has put significant investment into these schemes and it is important the local authorities provide the resources to deliver these schemes. The local authority chief executives should have monthly meetings with the Minister in his office in the Custom House to ensure the local authorities are resourced to deliver them. The reality is there are extremely wide inconsistencies. A number of counties have not processed rep…

I want to raise the issue of the summer programme. I know considerable work was carried out by the Department regarding special education. New recommendations were put in place but we are still hearing stories of a significant number of special schools deciding not to provide a school-based summer programme this year. I would strongly urge those schools to reconsider. The reality of not carrying out such a programme in schools is that thousands of kids with the greatest needs will not get that consistency through t…