Item 4 on the agenda this afternoon is the 90-second statements. The first up this week is Jayne Bryant.  

Last night I had the pleasure of hosting an event in the Senedd to mark Carers Week and to highlight the incredibly vital and often underappreciated work of carers. According to most recent estimates by Carers Wales, there are up to 400,000 in Wales, providing 96 per cent of care in our country.

As a society, we will always rely on unpaid carers, usually family members or loved ones. Carers Week is an opportunity to say 'thank you'—a time to recognise all the unpaid carers across every part of Wales who carry out their roles with dedication and humility. They are an often silent workforce whose contribution to our society is regularly overlooked. Unpaid carers hold families together, ensure people can remain at home, easing the strain on our health service and social services. They underpin our NHS and social care system, and there is no doubt that we could not do without them.

Responsibility lies with us to help carers care. The impact the role can have on both physical and mental health can be debilitating and long lasting. Nobody should be in a position where they’re sacrificing their own health just so they can look after a loved one. More must be done to support them. If their health fails, it often puts the cared for in a crisis situation. Unpaid carers deserve respite, they deserve recognition—not that they’re seeking it—and they deserve our unwavering support.

I want to highlight the work of the Calon Lân Society in Swansea. The sixteenth of March 2020 is the hundredth anniversary of Daniel James, who was was better known as Gwyrosydd, the writer of one of, if not the favourite Welsh hymn, 'Calon Lân'. Daniel James came from Treboeth in Swansea. His father died when he was young. He became a puddler at Morriston ironworks, and then worked at Landore tinplate works.

The recently formed Calon Lân Society are intending to hold a number of events and projects culminating in the publication of the complete poetical works of Daniel James and their translations into English. Also, on the centenary of his death on 16 March, it is intended to have a mass singing of 'Calon Lân' in iconic locations in Wales and worldwide, hopefully including the Senedd.

Other projects include a memorial stone in the grounds of the King's Head public house where he wrote a number of hymns and poems, commemorative stained glass windows in the six local schools to Treboeth, poems and pints, which I'm sure best exemplifies him, and concerts to be held at Ysgol Gyfun Bryntawe and at capel Caersalem. 

I thank the Calon Lân Society for what they are doing to commemorate the life of a working-class Welsh poet and hymnwriter from Treboeth in Swansea. 

Last week, those in the Muslim community of Wales and the wider world took part in Ramadan and the festival Eid that followed it. Many in our communities and politicians here went to visit mosques and shared in that experience. And this will go a long way, I believe, in developing mutual understanding and respect of one another. Learning about different faiths and cultures can empower us and allow us to become better people.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and it is a period of time for fasting, prayer, reflection and community. It is one of the five pillars of Islam. I took part in fasting for the first time this year with my husband and his family, who are over from India. It's a very individual experience, often allowing people to feel purified, and individuals may be given spiritual rewards for embracing it. It makes people assess their lives and how they live them, and it also is a sociable thing, with communities breaking their fast together, to eat together, to share experiences together. Eid, as many of you will know here today, is the festival of breaking that particular fast. It's the start of the lunar month and varies dependent on when the new moon is sighted by various religious authorities, and that's why you won't be able to put the date in stone in your calendars.

Again, people are required to give money to the poor or the needy before they partake in an Eid prayer. And that makes them think about other people as opposed to always thinking about themselves in this individualistic society that we live in—that's often a very good thing—it makes them care for others, and it is a time of celebration. Ultimately, it's vital that we learn about other faiths and cultures and respect one another and other people's faiths and cultures. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Thank you.