Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Senators for their contributions and their good wishes. I will certainly do my best on their behalf in the months ahead.

Senator Fitzpatrick kicked off this morning with the issue of public safety and the deployment of gardaí. Safe streets are hugely important to all our citizens and there is a huge demand in respect of Garda numbers. Recruitment is always an issue. I welcome the increase in Garda recruitment in recent times, including the increased number of reserve gardaí graduating from Templemore. There was a lacuna during the Covid-19 pandemic unfortunately. A total 746 trainees entered the training college in 2023, the highest intake in any year since 2018. There were changes to the age at which people can enter An Garda Síochána and that has also led to an increase in applications. I look forward to those recruits coming through. Certainly, visibility of gardaí is hugely important, whether that is in Dublin city or rural areas. The key is recruiting sufficient numbers of gardaí every year. Their deployment is a matter for the Garda Commissioner but we want to see our capital city being safe. I will request a debate with the Minister on that.

Senators Conway and Maria Byrne raised matters in University Hospital Limerick, UHL. Senator Conway commented that 100 people are on trolleys there today. The Minister made a commitment before the local elections about HIQA. I suggest that the Senator table a Commencement matter on that topic or I can write to the Minister for a response. A Commencement matter, if chosen by the Cathaoirleach, would provide detail from the Department of Health, if not the Minister himself. In the meantime, I will write to him to request he come to talk about UHL.

Senator Maria Byrne also spoke about the alternative to in-person treatment in Limerick and the exciting plans for a virtual ward. I am not sure of the exact details of that but telemedicine seems exciting and I look forward to hearing more about it. She also spoke about issues relating to Alzheimer's disease and asked that the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, come to the House to speak about specialist nurses for Alzheimer's disease.

Senator Boyhan spoke about the Planning and Development Bill 2023, of which we will take Second Stage in the House today. I am sure we will have plenty of opportunities in the coming weeks to debate those matters. It is an important, long awaited and comprehensive Bill. Senator Boyhan also spoke about one-off rural housing guidelines. We have been waiting for some time - a number of years - for those. Perhaps the Minister will touch on that in his contribution today. Senator Boyhan also spoke about fast-tracking applications to An Bord Pleanála, which is part of this debate with respect to streamlining An Bord Pleanála. In recent years, we have seen a full cohort of inspectors in An Bord Pleanála to try to speed up decisions. Senator Boyhan commented that some 20,000 residential units are stuck in An Bord Pleanála and he is right that speeding up determinations is good for everyone concerned.

Senator Martin sought leave to introduce his Third-Party Funding Contracts (Certain Proceedings) Bill 2024. This is No. 10 on the Order Paper. He requested that it be taken before No. 1 and I support that request.

Senator Wall congratulated, as do I, Senator Seery Kearney on her Trojan work on the surrogacy Bill which was passed by the Seanad yesterday. I look forward to the President engaging on it in the coming weeks. He also spoke about the large-scale sport infrastructure fund. There are a lot of projects in his county, County Kildare. A project is being put forward and he listed a number of projects in Athy, Monasterevin, Newbridge and Kildare. He rightly spoke about houses being built without the back-up infrastructure. I acknowledge that. I have liaised in recent years on the community centres investment fund, which has seen dividends in a number of projects across the county announced earlier this year. However, more investment in sporting facilities is needed. He spoke about women's sport. The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, announced today record investment of €4 million in the women in sport programme for 2024, which is an increase from €2.7 million last year. That is welcome but more is needed. The infrastructure can be quite costly and there is a need for an increase in specialist funding for it.

Senator Seery Kearney spoke about the use of counselling notes in criminal proceedings. It is hard to credit that is happening, that perpetrators would try to access and be successful in accessing those notes. Something needs to be done to ensure that is not possible. We will contact the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to ask what plans he might have. As this has been in the media, I am sure he is aware of it and that his Department is looking into what can be done to ensure it is not allowed.