Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I agree with what my colleagues said about the need for special education and the provision for everybody who needs it.

There are two things I wanted to raise specifically under today's Order of Business. The first is in regard to the regulations that came in on 20 May for e-scooters and e-bikes. It is a welcome development. We needed some sort of regulation or recognition of their status in law and I welcome that. However, there is quite a lot of detail in the regulations. There are important points like, for example, you cannot use them if you are under 16, and you cannot use them on footpaths. They will be treated like bicycles as long as they travel at under 20 km/h. There are a number of other details that are there for the provision of everyone's safety, and that is a good thing. We should have a debate on this and we should bring the Minister in here to discuss the specifics of those regulations, where they are good, where we think perhaps they could go further, or where they go too far. A debate on that would be welcome.

Today, I had the pleasure of meeting with Noelle O'Connell, chief executive of the European Movement Ireland at the European affairs committee, where EMI was presenting its EU Poll 2024. It is a very important document that the European Movement Ireland does every year to monitor support for various aspects of European policy in Ireland. I am pleased to say that 84% of people still support our membership of the European Union. That is an important figure because it shows we are still one of the most pro-European countries in the European Union, and it is something that those seeking election on 7 June who are de facto Eurosceptic should take note of. Irish people value hugely their membership of the European Union. Also, interestingly, 88% of them say that it is important to vote in the European elections, so I hope everybody will exercise their franchise in that regard.

There are, of course, takeaways from this with regard to specific issues like migration, defence, the European response to the conflict in Gaza and the invasion of Ukraine, which we should all be having a look at. I encourage Members to have a look at it. I want to put on record my huge support for the European Movement Ireland, the work it does, the assistance it gives us all in explaining the work that Europe does and the benefits it conveys to all of us here in Ireland.