I also commend Deputy Kenny on bringing this forward. It goes without saying that on some level, there should not actually be a need for a conversation in here. Everyone is always worried when they see we are kicking the can down the road. I hope there will be a proper attempt to address this issue. Forget the politics, which can occur from time to time in here. Obviously, I never partake in that and am always very constructive. In reality, this is about saving lives. It could be anybody's life. It is that idea. We have all seen it with regard to defibrillators. I have seen it in Louth. I have met people whose lives were saved on the basis of having a defibrillator and staff who were able to access and operate it. Deputy Cummins made a really coherent point about making sure that people are properly trained, including about the panic that can happen, because we are dealing with medical emergencies, people going into anaphylactic shock, people having heart attacks, and issues such as diabetes, which requires an insulin injection. It can be much more difficult when dealing with children, particularly young children. A number of Deputies mentioned that this was a follow-on from Sabrina's law in 2006 in Canada. It seems this has been well tried and tested. It is straightforward. Deputy O'Rourke put it simply, in that it is making sure there are the correct resources, the correct training and, most importantly of all, given the issues that exist with insurance and so on, permission to act. We would also have the correct element of registration with the HPRA and so on. We are all aware of children or adults who have been in difficult circumstances or medical emergencies. There will often be situations where it is an allergy to something that everybody is aware of, but kids are kids and adults are adults. You are not always necessarily sure of the thing that you get from somebody else's lunchbox, not that I would ever have taken anything that I was not offered in the first place, just in case the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, were to make some sort of crass accusation later. This is an incredibly serious topic. The legislation has been presented by Deputy Kenny and is properly packaged and ready to go. We just need to make sure, as much as I have a difficulty with this being kicked down the road, that adequate planning and resourcing is put in place and we do not end up, in a year, having not dealt with it, which has happened from time to time. It cannot be another Bill that just withers on the vine. It is an absolute necessity that we have the autoinjectors, correct medicine, defibrillators, and people able to operate them. I also want to follow on from what Deputy O'Rourke said from the point of view of putting more pressure on teachers who are obviously under severe pressure at the moment. He spoke about some of the delineation points, particularly in regard to children with diabetes. At times, this falls directly into the sphere of SNAs, which shows the importance of SNAs to the school population. I like to think we would eventually get to a position whereby we have a sufficient number of SNAs in schools from the point of view of ensuring children get the best opportunity to be all that they can be and to benefit from and flourish in the educational setting. As I have said before, in an awful lot of cases there is a very simple solution to issues. It does not deal with every issue across the board, but the sense is that we should just make it happen as soon as possible. I ask the Government to make sure that it would happen. This is a lot more fundamental in the sense that we have already spoken about situations we have come across where people have been saved because the correct equipment or the correctly trained person was there and they were able and willing to do whatever was necessary with regard to using an autoinjector or defibrillator. It is just about making sure that happens within schools. We are talking about the entire school population. Something could happen to any of us at any time. I do not know how many times in the last while we have seen paramedics within the campus. There are people with medical training as well who have put that to use. I spoke earlier about GAA clubs. We have seen it in all sorts of sporting organisations and community centres that have access to defibrillators. Sometimes the issue is not related to a particular campus but it happens in an adjacent organisation or premises. It is important that where there is an issue that at least somebody can get access. That happens. In fairness, schools play a fundamental role in many communities. In real terms, it could be a facility that operates even beyond the school. First and foremost, parents need to feel their child will be safe, in particular if they have a kid with an added ailment or an added worry, for example, an allergy or some underlying condition that is understood. We must make sure that we have the facility there to ensure their safety as much as possible. We cannot make this an absolutely safe and perfect world, but we can definitely make it a bit safer. If this was done across the board I would like to think we would have fewer tragic circumstances. Nobody wants to be in a situation where they are saying "what if" or "if only". I commend Deputy Kenny. I request that the Minister and the Government would take action to assuage my fears about the can being kicked down the road.

Sentiment score: 0.07