(Limerick East): On a point of order, the House has become progressively hotter all day long and it has now reached the point where it is nearly impossible to work here. I know there is nothing you can do about it, a Cheann Comhairle, but could we have an explanation tomorrow as to why temperatures are so high in the House?
Private Members' Business. - Air Conditioning System for Chamber.
I shall strive earnestly to provide some worthwhile information for the House. I may also say that I have long since been recommending that something positive be done to rectify the atmosphere here. The matter has been with the Office of Public Works for some time past.
May I elaborate on the point of order? It is by an extraordinary accident of good faith that we have in our midst the very man who has the solution to our problem. With a single stroke of a pen and at a cost of £250,000 the Minister for Finance can accede to the request for the Office of Public Works to provide the air conditioning system, the scheme for which has already been prepared and is on his desk.
My desk is clear.
I recall that at a Fine Gael Ard-Fheis Deputy Noonan proposed to put the Bunsen burner under the Fianna Fáil Party and turn up the heat, which is what has happened today. In deference to the good working conditions of the Minister's staff and the rest of us, the solution in part to this problem, if I may venture to be so bold as to suggest this, is a price tag of approximately £250,000. I think this would be a Rolls Royce job for what would reasonably be accepted as a Ford Escort one. This matter is in the Minister's hands. With the array of financial experts behind him perhaps the Minister can establish what savings can be made, the job creation component attached to it, the precise paragraph within the Programme for Economic and Social Progress under which it can be located and report to us tomorrow morning.
The point of order has been well made and I shall leave it with the Minister for Finance.
(Limerick East): My job as the Bunsen burner man has been taken over by the Progressive Democrats; I am now redundant. Deputy Higgins has just informed me that the thermometer at the back of the chamber is now reading 78 degrees.
And we did not even contribute to raising the temperature.
Let us not complain about the heat in the kitchen but resume business.