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Seanad Éireann debate -
Thursday, 28 Mar 1996

Vol. 146 No. 19

Order of Business.

The Order of Business is items 1 and 3. The first speaker from each group will have 30 minutes on item 1 and each speaker thereafter will have 20 minutes. The Second Stage of item 1 is to conclude today. There will be a sos from 1 p.m. until 2 p.m. and item 3 will be taken at 2 p.m. until 3 p.m.. As agreed by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges yesterday, Professor Dooge will speak for about 30 minutes, followed by questions for 20 minutes which the guest speaker will answer in the last ten minutes.

Will each Member be allowed to ask one question?

There will be as many questions as he can answer within the time. There will be a time limit on the questions.

That is important.

In relation to the welcome results announced by Aer Lingus yesterday, will the Leader arrange a debate after the Easter recess on all aspects of tourism, including transport and marketing? The Minister might welcome an opportunity to outline his programme for the coming season to the House.

A report was issued recently on the Irish Horseracing Authority which I would welcome a chance to discuss. This was the first year of the Authority's existence and many Members would welcome the chance to give their views on the future development of racing.

They have started on Mallow racecourse.

We have had several debates in this House on the hepatitis C disaster involving the blood bank. If any fresh documentary evidence has become available which was not made available to the Minister——

I have to rule the Senator out of order as that matter is currently before the courts and is sub judice.

Can I not ask the Leader of the House to ask the Minister to bring this to our attention before we read about it in the public press?

The Senator has asked him.

I am sorry if I was out of order, but you, Sir, know my concern in this area.

I appreciate that.

I agree with Senator Henry in that I would like the Minister for Health to make an immediate statement to the House on this urgent matter. The revelations yesterday shocked us all. I met women from Positive Action and the woman whose case was before the High Court yesterday. I was devastated and very angry. The Minister should make a statement to the House——

As I have already explained, that matter is before the courts.

I endorse the concerns expressed by Senator Honan and Senator Henry, to which the Minister should respond. I am not sure how it can be done but the Houses of the Oireachtas should know what is going on before they read about it in the national press, as happened on this occasion. Will the Leader formulate some way of——

I have already pointed out we cannot discuss the matter.

I appreciate the difficulty and I do not wish to be out of order or disagree with the Chair.

It has transpired that £23 million of the beef fine was caused by the failure of Department of Agriculture. Food and Forestry officials to renew the insurance policy on the beef which was stored in Ballaghdereen in County Roscommon. It is extraordinary that due to negligence by officials in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, the taxpayer has to meet a bill of £23 million. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry should respond to this and I call——

I am sure the Senator will find some other way of raising the matter.

Will the Leader ask the Minister to respond to this matter, which is of grave importance? Has any disciplinary action been taken against those who failed to renew the insurance?

Senator Kennedy might respond.

I raised this on a number of occasions. Some time ago I raised a matter on the Adjournment regarding a child who is profoundly deaf and who cannot have an operation on his ear because the Department of Education has failed to provide transport for the child to be brought to school. I raise this on the Order of Business because I want a response from the Minister for Education. When I raised it before——

Surely that is more appropriate for a motion on the Adjournment or Private Members' business.

I raised it on the Adjournment on 5 December 1995 following a suggestion from the Leader of the House. On that occasion the Minister for Education indicated that she would respond but to date we have received no response. The difficulty in this case is that the child, who is profoundly deaf, has not attended national school yet. There is a more serious problem, however. The child is due to undergo an operation in Belfast but the hospital and surgeon involved will not carry out the operation unless the child is attending school so that the child can be monitored.

I appreciate the Senator's deep concern about this case but it cannot be discussed on the Order of Business.

I ask the Leader of the House to seek a response from the Minister for Education. It is only fair that we should receive one. I do not see why a four year old child should be denied not only an operation but also his constitutional right to attend national school.

On numerous occasions I have sought a debate on the efficiency audit group report. We have also asked a number of times to see the report. This week we received the report of the implementation group so we should have an early debate on this issue.

Last week I sought a debate on worldwide aid. Since I made that request The Irish Times devoted a full page to the matter and, in my opinion, gave a misleading picture of what is happening to our aid personnel in El Salvador. It appears to have been a historical rather than an up to date report. It is now more urgent that we have a debate on the implications of aid as a political weapon, where Irish aid goes and what use is made of it in other countries.

Now that the Minister for Education is restored to full health, I reiterate my request that she come to the House to discuss our concerns about the examinations, and particularly the problem with English examinations, that occurred in Dundalk. There is concern on the part of parents that this matter and the problem with art examinations have not been cleared up. We are approaching examination time again and this concern still exists.

The Minister should come to the Seanad and clarify the position so that we can convey that information to our constituents. Not all parents read the newspapers and when we receive information from the Minister it is easier for us to allay such fears. I ask the Leader to forward my request to the Minister and, hopefully, soon after Easter she will make a statement about these matters to the House.

I support Senator Finneran's request that the Leader of the House convey to the Minister for Education the extreme urgency of the case he mentioned. This is an exceptional case and is worthy of a sympathetic and immediate response from the Minister.

Perhaps the Leader of the House would clarify in his reply to the Order of Business the position regarding questions this afternoon.

There will be a 20 minute period for questions after Professor Dooge has spoken. The length of each question will be limited to a time fixed by the Cathaoirleach, which will be two or three minutes, so that there will be questions rather than orations. The time for questions was agreed by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges yesterday. The Cathaoirleach will indicate the length of time and that may be dictated by the number of people who want to ask questions.

Senator Wright raised two points which are worth considering. I will be happy to have an early debate on tourism and, following the election of Senator McAughtry, I will be even happier to have a debate on the horse racing industry after Easter. There is a great depth of expertise in this House on the horse racing industry and that expertise should be put at the disposal of the Irish people. There will be a debate on the horse racing industry shortly after Easter.

I share and appreciate the concern of Senator Henry, Senator Honan and Senator Finneran about the issue they raised. They will appreciate that it would be out of order for me to ask the Minister for Health to come to the Seanad and speak on an issue that is currently before the courts; it would be improper on his part and out of order. I cannot accede to their request although I appreciate their concern and the gravity of the matter. Perhaps it can be debated when the court case is over. It is not quite fair to say that we are reading about it in the newspapers for the first time. The matter was first discovered in the courts so there was no question of anybody by-passing the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Senator Finneran and Senator Mullooly raised the issue of the deaf child. Obviously this is a serious case and I will try to raise it with the Minister. The Senator could raise it again next week on the Adjournment but I will see what I can do on behalf of the House to get an answer. Senator Finneran also referred to the beef fine. That took place under a different Administration but I will convey the Senator's concern to the Minister. While yesterday was a bad day for this country, we should also appreciate that a good deal of good work was done by the Government and Commissioner Flynn——

There is more to come.

——to reduce the fine. That should be put on the record.

Senator Lanigan sought a debate on defence. I had arranged for such a debate next week but, unfortunately, the Government meeting has been changed from Tuesday to Wednesday and the Minister for Defence must attend. However, there will be an early debate on the recently published report. The debate on the White Paper on foreign policy will give the Senator every opportunity to explore the aid issue. It might be worthwhile to note that the debate will be ongoing and will give Members the freedom to address the major issues in that document.

Senator Ormonde asked about examinations. It is not my job to make life difficult for Ministers so I cannot offer the Senator any help in that regard. Perhaps the Senator could approach the matter through Private Members' business or Adjournment Matters.

Will there be Private Members' business next week?

The Opposition has never been deprived of its Private Members' time. The Opposition under this regime gets a greater share of Private Members' time than in the past and it has never been deprived of its share.

Order of Business agreed to.

There might be a short delay in continuing our business because the Minister is the Acting Whip in the other House. We must await the end of the Order of Business in the Dáil before we can start the Social Welfare Bill.

Sitting suspended at 10.50 a.m. and resumed at 11 a.m.
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