Today's business is item 1. There will be a sos from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and speeches will be limited to 20 minutes, if that is agreed.
Order of Business.
The Order of Business is agreed. I thank the Leader for the Whip's notice we have just received concerning the special sitting next Tuesday for statements on Northern Ireland. For the benefit of those preparing contributions over the weekend I ask the Leader to indicate how much time he intends giving to spokespersons in that debate. I am also glad that after many months of asking, statements on broadcasting will be taken next Thursday. Many of my colleagues take great interest in that subject and Fianna Fáil will be launching its policy document on broadcasting this afternoon.
In the National Concert Hall at 3 p.m.
All Senators are welcome.
Is this a commercial?
Senator Wright without interruption.
On item 15, motion 24, concerning funding for the Border counties, we note the Government has recently appointed the Minister of State, Deputy Carey to take responsibility for that matter. We will be dealing with this in Private Members' time at the earliest possible date.
The Minister for the Environment will be coming to the House today to deal with the Waste Management Bill. We have noted his recent comments on a new Litter Bill and I suggest that this House would be an ideal forum in which to initiate it. In the recent history of this House, when Bills on the environment were initiated here, the Seanad played a major part in the development of that legislation. The Minister indicated the Bill would be ready soon and I hope the Leader, through his good offices, seeks to have it initiated in the Seanad.
I welcome the debate on Northern Ireland and I ask the Leader not to have it conclude in one day. On a previous occasion when matters were in flux, a similar debate was allowed to resume a short time after. Given the current position in the North we should be able to return to such a debate rather than thinking that because we dealt with it a month or two ago we do not need to deal with it again. The Northern Ireland committee of ICTU is organising a peace rally in Belfast for tomorrow at 12.30 p.m. and people should be encouraged to participate. Teachers and other people in education will help to make it a significant event.
I wish to raise two related issues. Littering and non littering are both learned activities. Learning not to litter is part of citizenship, responsibility, a sense of place and education. Over the last two and half to three years those interested in education have tried to put together, with the support of the two Governments over that time, a very complicated and difficult package which will change the face of primary education within Government policy and the strictures of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work. Despite the words of my absent colleague — I regret breaking the rules of the House by referring to an absent colleague — Senator Ross on this matter yesterday, the teachers' unions——
Is it in order for my colleague to mention an absent Member of the House?
It is not in order, as Senator O'Toole knows.
Could it then be expunged from the record?
I ask the Senator to put a final question to the Leader.
Will the Leader ask his more prominent backbenchers if they want to sit on this side of the House or if they will uphold Government policy and——
Do not worry about it.
That is not relevant to the Order of Business.
The teachers' unions will be very supportive of the nurses in settling their claim within the Programme for Competitiveness and Work.
Could I point out that Senator O'Toole is wearing a yellow ribbon marked "Welcome home Shane"?
I support Senator Wright's call for the introduction of the Litter Bill in this House. Senator Finneran, Senator Maloney and I have asked a number of times for a debate on health. Will the Leader arrange for the Minister to come to the House in the very near future?
I was in town yesterday and there seems to be an enormous increase in the number of children sitting on O'Connell Bridge and in alleyways with cardboard boxes and signs — obviously written by adults — which read "homeless and hungry". It was very laudable for this House to discuss a Bill to protect children who are being sexually abused abroad. However, we have a disgraceful situation here with which nobody seems to be able to come to grips.
I made that point.
Hear, hear.
This is a large issue but I want to give notice of this as an Adjournment matter because it needs to be tightly focused on those children who never seem to get a chance. They are pinched, thin, miserable and ruthlessly exploited by parents in some cases and in others by some of their peer group. Will the Leader initiate a debate in this House with the relevant Minister? I am not sure who is responsible, because despite the legislation we pass in relation to children, we never seem to be able to address it. If those living on social welfare or unemployment benefit sent their children out in that way on a constant basis there would be an outcry, but we accept this situation. Why do we accept it? Let us have a debate on that specific issue as soon as possible so that we can eventually say that we have at least tackled that part of the problem. We cannot live with this any more. The Government and this House have an obligation to devise meaningful ways to tackle this appalling problem.
I was outraged to read yesterday and today in the newspapers that the State is paying £500 per day to protect a gentleman known as the "Viper". I can assure you that he was not christened the "Viper" for nothing. It annoys me that £3,500 per week is being spent by the State to protect a gangster and criminal while we cannot provide gardaí to protect elderly people in the west and elsewhere. That money would keep at least four rural Garda stations open. Is the Minister aware of this and, if so, does she condone it? It is an outrage if she does because this gentleman has plenty of money and if he is danger he should pay for his own protection. This man is well known around Dublin. I will bring this up again next week if he is still under protection, in case the Leader thinks that I will forget about it. It would be no great loss to society if he was not around. I ask the Leader to take this matter up with the Minister for Justice.
The Senator has made his point.
I completely understand Senator Bohan's sense of outrage, which we all share. We are all shocked and horrified by the attacks on elderly and vulnerable people. There is an irony in an alleged well known criminal being protected by the State but what is the alternative?
Shoot him.
That is appalling. This is precisely where we go——
With all due respect to the Senator, we are drifting from today's Order of Business.
This is a far more important point — it has been said in a House of the Oireachtas that there should be summary execution of people suspected of committing crime. That is an extraordinarily dangerous road to go down.
That is not relevant to today's Order of Business.
I really think that that should be rethought. I must put on the record of the House that I disassociate myself totally from that because it is a requirement of the State to protect life. As my colleague, Senator O'Toole, has just said to me——
We are not discussing that matter as it does not arise on the Order of Business.
——we had to protect President Clinton, who also has plenty of money.
Does Senator Norris have a question which is relevant to today's Order of Business?
Yes, I have. Will the Leader reassure the Minister for Justice that she has our support in her very difficult battle against crime and that not all of us in this House are prepared to lapse into the specious arguments employed by Senator Bohan?
In contrast to that, we had another clear example of the caring, compassion and concern expressed by Members of this House for the most vulnerable sections of the community in the contribution made by Senator Magner. I support his call for a debate on these street children. Over the last couple of years a person sporadically turned up at the gates of this House with a placard about this subject asking us to address it. We mentioned it on a number of occasions but we never had the full debate and ventilation for which Senator Magner has appealed.
I agree with his comments that it was very proper for us to debate the Bill on child sex tourism but I would not like it to be thought that we did not place that in context. I specifically and at some length raised the problem from my personal experience of street children. They are difficult to deal with as some of them are involved in prostitution. I greatly look forward to an opportunity to debate the issue.
I also support the call for a debate on litter, which is very important. Such a Bill should be introduced in this House because this is the correct environment for it. It is a question of education, civic responsibility and respect for our environment. Those who litter the streets of Dublin show nothing but contempt for their capital city.
On a point of order, while I do not wish to become involved in the debate and I have great sympathy with the points made by Senator Bohan, from the point of view of the Chair some of his comments could be taken as an incitement to violence. I would share his lack of sympathy if anything happened to that man but it is inappropriate to make comments which could be interpreted as an incitement to violence. I do not think that was what Senator Bohan wanted to do.
That is not a point of order.
I think that it is.
I ruled Senator Bohan out as soon as he drifted along those lines.
I am sorry, I did not hear that.
I support Senator Magner's call for a debate on children. I raised that point several times in this House. We brought in several laws but they do not seem to have been enacted. I was reliably informed yesterday by a very authentic and sound source that there are only nine families involved. Therefore, it should not be a big problem to put an end to it. I agree with Senator Bohan that it is time the gloves were taken off.
Please ask a question on today's Order of Business.
I ask the Leader if anything can be done about censorship and discrimination in RTE. Some time ago on a religious programme on RTE a person called Mr. Long asked people to pray for inefficient teachers. His opinions have been censored, as have those of Mr. Paddy O'Gorman because he spoke about a colleague. Yet, it is all right for RTE to criticise priests and politicians.
That is not a matter for today's Order of Business. We have no control over RTE.
The Government subsidises RTE.
That is not relevant to today's Order of Business.
RTE is a State-sponsored body; the taxpayers are paying for it.
We have no control over RTE.
We are responsible for spending public money and subsidies are given to RTE.
That is a matter for the day to day running of RTE and not for this House or for today's Order of Business. I ask Senator Farrell to resume his seat.
It is a disgrace that the opinions of two people have been censored.
Perhaps the Leader could ask the Minister for the Marine to come to the House to discuss the fishing industry in terms of EU regulations and quotas and the problems associated with the Spanish fishing fleet. Great developments are taking place in the marine which could create jobs in the future. Regulation, advice and assistance are needed to develop proper fishing facilities along our coast and to meet fishermen's needs.
I ask the Leader for a debate on industrial development because we do not know what IDA Ireland is doing in terms of announcing new jobs. Its regional office in Waterford is being moved to Cork and this will be a disadvantage to the south-east region. We should be given an opportunity to discuss industrial development.
We should all support Senator Magner's call for something to be done about children begging in the streets. This task is not easy but it can be tackled if the agencies involved work together. This was a major problem in Kilkenny which was only resolved when the health boards, the Garda and the Department of Social Welfare became involved. These children were only taken off the streets when the authorities threatened to withdraw their families' social welfare payments.
I support Senator Magner's point about children begging in the streets. This is not only a problem in Dublin but in other towns and cities throughout the country. Children are appealing for money on the pavement a few yards from this House. The Minister for Social Welfare, Deputy De Rossa, has set up a task force and this issue could be discussed by it. Perhaps he could assign one of his special advisers to do some research into this area and prepare a report.
He would need to advertise for them.
A question relevant to today's Order of Business.
Perhaps the Minister could explain his activities and why it seems that the social welfare problems have been aggravated since he took office.
A question to the Leader on today's Order of Business.
Perhaps the Leader could ask the Minister to explain his activities in the Department.
In the past few days a comprehensive report has been published in the United Kingdom on the health hazards of electricity pylons. This could have serious repercussions for people's health. I would like to know the response of the Minister for the Environment or the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications to this report. Perhaps we could have an opportunity to discuss this issue here.
It is my intention to give as many people as possible an opportunity to speak next week on Northern Ireland. We will allocate relatively short speaking times to enable everyone to take part in the debate. The debate will be open-ended; there will be no need for it to conclude on Tuesday.
Senator Wright mentioned a broadcasting debate and the publication of the Fianna Fáil policy document this afternoon.
At 3 o'clock.
We always try to accommodate the Opposition, therefore a broadcasting debate has been arranged for next week so that we can take into account the Fianna Fáil document. Senator Farrell raised the question of censorship. He will have a couple of hours next week to discuss RTE. I will endeavour to introduce the Litter Bill in the Seanad.
Senator Honan asked for a debate on health. We have a lot of legislation to discuss in the coming weeks, but I will try to organise such a debate. Senator Magner raised a matter about which there is widespread concern in the House. We should have statements on that issue in the near future. I suspect the question raised by Senator Bohan is a Garda operational matter, not a ministerial one. I will convey his concerns to the Minister.
Senator Calnan asked for a debate on the marine. We will have two debates on the marine next Wednesday, so the Minister will be here all day. The Senator should have an opportunity then to raise his concerns. Senator Lanigan asked for a debate on industrial development. I will put that on the list, but it will not happen in the next couple of weeks because we have a full list of work.
Senator Daly raised an issue which is causing concern. There are divided views on this matter and experts seem to be diametrically opposed about the effect of electricity pylons on people's health. However, the public is concerned about this matter. Perhaps we could find some way of allaying people's fears in this regard.
Order of Business agreed to.