The Order of Business is tributes to a former Member, the late Joe Doyle, to be taken at the conclusion of the Order of Business and conclude within 30 minutes, when leaders may speak for three minutes; No. 1, Dog Breeding Establishments Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] — Report and Final Stages, to be taken at the conclusion of the tributes to the late Joe Doyle; and No. 2, the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] — Report and Final Stages, to be taken at the conclusion of No. 1 but not before 3 p.m. There will be a sos between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Order of Business
The House will adjourn today until the end of September. The Government will remain unaccountable to the people through the Dáil and the Seanad, yet the major issues facing the country remain to be dealt with and intensify. All one has to do is look at the headline in The Irish Times today, which states, “120,000 expected to emigrate by end of 2011, says report”. We speak about developing a smart economy yet we preside over this level of emigration. The Government is in denial about the serious problems affecting the country.
Hear, hear.
Last night, we saw the fourth gangland murder in our capital city in just two weeks and the 17th overall. What other capital city in Europe tolerates the type of gangland murders we see in Dublin, almost week in week out at this stage? It is an extraordinary tally and very disturbing, especially for the communities most directly affected by them.
In recent weeks we have also seen a series of reports on the protection of children, yet we have no date for the referendum. After ten years of this Government we still have not put in place the type of child protection services necessary to put children at the centre. We leave today without a date for the referendum on children.
This week, we also heard the Taoiseach state there have been no cuts to front-line services in respite care. However, we had evidence from tens of people outside the gates of Leinster House who spoke about the respite care cuts they themselves suffer. This was a direct contradiction. However, we have had no Minister in the House to tell us how the Disability Act will be implemented.
These are all failures, but the biggest failure is the number of people emigrating because there is no work for them here. We want to develop a smart economy, yet we have this level of emigration. Our brightest and best are emigrating once again. Today, the ESRI is stating that we have the largest deficit in the EU. Of course it is because the money given to Anglo Irish Bank is included this year. What a record of shame. The Government is in denial. The Fianna Fáil website has a piece about turning the corner; this is the best example of denial. We have spoken repeatedly in the House about a job creation plan and getting credit flowing. As I speak on the last day of this Seanad term they remain problems——
Hear, hear.
——despite the words we have heard time and again from the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach. Credit is not flowing, small businesses are not being supported and we are not giving a message of hope to the many people who are unemployed and who need access to jobs, training and education. This must be the priority and Fine Gael will oppose the Government's plans for the House not to meet again until September.
The points made by Senator Fitzgerald are very useful. I felt the silly season had opened up full time this morning when I received a Bill from my Kerry colleague, Senator Mark Daly, and the two Green Party Senators that would require mobile phones to carry a sign stating they emit radiation. It reminded me of my youth when people invented luminous watches and the view was that we could all die of radiation poisoning from them. Another view was that florescent lights would make us all bald. This is Luddite scaremongering and I will certainly oppose the Bill left, right and centre. We can do more important things with our time and there are Kerry issues which are more important that this, if I may say so to Senator Daly.
It is a pity we will not have an opportunity to discuss the ESRI report. I do not want to get involved in a party row between the Opposition and the Government on this issue but I want to look at the two significant points in the report. The first of these is the fact that the deficit has risen to 19.5%. No matter who is in Government — Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Labour Party or Sinn Féin — this issue will have to be dealt with. It seems that capitalisation is a draw-down figure and at the very least surely it could be made available on an annual basis so all of the hit would not have to be taken in one year because it damages the country externally.
The second point in the report with which I take serious issue is the infrastructure question. Both sides of the House have argued that we should have infrastructural work to create employment. There are two reasons which the ESRI, with its academic response to the situation have missed. One is a short-term employment bridge to create employment for people until more sustainable long-term employment is created but more importantly, it is an investment in future infrastructure on which we will build the economy and future employment. That message has to be got out there.
I do not want the Government running in front an ESRI report which is true in what it says but neglects a very important part of the future. This point was made by the old Deputy Michael Noonan whom I heard on the radio this morning. He made the point very clearly. I took great pleasure in the fact that he had a right cut at his own PR and media people in Fine Gael when he ignored what was on the Fine Gael website and stated the true facts were what one hears from him. We need more of this type of leadership.
Senators
Hear, hear.
I do not have a difficulty with debating the ESRI report and it is a pity we do not have time to do so prior to the end of the term. We are very fortunate to have an organisation such as the ESRI which does not seek to massage information or present it in a particular way that would be of value politically either to the Government or to anyone else. In that context, I respectfully disagree with what Senator O'Toole just stated on the Anglo Irish Bank money. How anyone could possibly think the billions being sunk into Anglo Irish Bank by the Exchequer could constitute investment and could be characterised as such in the figures seems to me completely absurd. Quite clearly, it is expenditure and has to be shown as such in our annual accounting. That is the reality of the situation. It has been explained that it is a once-off figure for this year. I do not direct this at my colleague Senator O'Toole but generally, but let us not get so carried away with an attempt, particularly on the Government side, to make things look different from what they are that we misrepresent the reality of the situation and the figures as they are. This is a multi-billion euro expenditure that the State will have to sink into Anglo Irish Bank and we have to face this politically in our economic and budgetary planning and in the basic facts and information we make available to people domestically and internationally.
Another interesting point about the ESRI report which would be worthy of debate is the view that resources should be shifted away from expenditure on infrastructure and more in the direction of retraining and upskilling. That is the area which the ESRI thinks would be most productive in terms of the jobs crisis. They are not necessarily mutually exclusive. There is a very strong basis for continued and improved infrastructural investment in our country but that should not be at the expense of an active labour market policy and investment in retraining, upskilling and education, which is what we need. To that extent I regret the way it appears to have come out that we can have only one and not the other. We need elements of both. It is unfortunate that we do not have an opportunity to debate the report.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record on the question of how we debate matters, when we return in the autumn is there any way we could structure a debate on a jobs policy——
Hear, hear.
——rather than simply having a Minister come in and do a set speech after which we speak, which apparently constitutes a debate? I would have no problem if the Labour Party's comprehensive jobs policy were tabled for debate and scrutinised and criticised if necessary by people on the opposite side so we could use this forum in a genuine way to see how best we can look to the future and examine what policies we need to put in place. All parties and Independent Members could participate and, if necessary, debate it in the real sense of a debate rather than the set-piece stuff that passes for debate on these issues.
Undoubtedly the country is facing very severe difficulties, as it has over the past two years. It is an exaggeration, and it concerns me with regard to the signal it would send from the House, to state the Government is in denial, especially in a week when the Taoiseach is working hard in the United States marketing the smart economy approach of the Government. It has tangible support in the €500 million investment with which he is prepared to back it up. We need to acknowledge these things. There are people out there looking for signals as to what will happen and what their prospects are for the future, and we must offer them hope from the efforts that are being put in. We need to do that in an honest and open way. I do not disagree with what Senator Alex White stated about having a constructive debate on how we tackle unemployment, which will be with us for some years as it is in other countries. Also, many Members mentioned the difficult financial position in which people find themselves because of over-leveraging during the good years. Those issues need to be addressed and I would like to see that happening.
I ask the Leader if he could arrange a debate on a matter which appeared last night on RTE television. I give credit to RTE for its good documentary on the Dublin bombings in 1974. This is a matter that has been discussed in these Houses previously. It engaged over a considerable amount of time a sub-committee of the then Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, and a report has been issued. Arising from that, the Dáil made representations to the House of Commons that its members would use their influence to arrive at the truth for the victims. I would like to think the Leader might put the matter on the Order of Business when we resume in the autumn so this issue can be addressed and put to bed in the interests of those people. We have seen the considerable positive response from those who were victims of Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972 and a similar approach is required here in order to lance the pain and anguish which those people have suffered over the past three or four decades. It needs to be done.
Finally, I ask the Leader to arrange when we return a debate on the bankruptcy laws, which appear to be outdated and which are certainly out of sync with other jurisdictions.
I begin by asking the Leader a specific question to which I would ask him to reply when he responds to the Order of Business. Is it appropriate that the chief executive and board member of one of the golden ten companies that propped up Anglo Irish Bank shares at the behest of its former chief executive, Mr. Seánie FitzPatrick, has been appointed to the board of the Irish Aviation Authority? Does the Leader think that is right? Do the Green Members here think it is right? What does it say about the political standards of the Fianna Fáil and Green Government? I want the Leader to reply specifically to that. I will not name the person concerned out of respect for the Chair.
Senator Fitzgerald is correct. The Government is unaccountable for the next ten weeks or more, and yet there are 450,000 plus Irish citizens unemployed. Senator Walsh missed the point. They are in denial. They stated we have turned the corner. We have not turned the corner. We need a comprehensive debate, not on a set piece but on a real jobs plan. Where Senator Fitzgerald is spot on is we have heard nothing from Government. The Government has borrowed a Fine Gael policy document about PRSI and has borrowed other policies from us, but it has not any plans of its own. When will the Government give the Irish people a real say in how to run this country by calling an election? The fundamental question that the people want answered is when will we have jobs and when will we have an election.
I will make one further comment to the Leader. I asked for a debate on aviation in this House. Last week the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, raised the flag about renaming State airports. It is imperative the people have an opportunity to have their voice heard in that process as well.
It is unfortunate that Senator O'Toole has left us because I could reply to his comments on the mobile phone labelling Bill. No doubt he has done considerable research on the matter. I ask the Leader to have a debate on this legislation. Senator O'Toole is obviously a wise man from Kerry, but probably has not read——
What is the question to the Leader?
——this is related to the question to the Leader — the US President's cancer panel report that the true burden of environmentally caused cancers is grossly underestimated. The report named mobile phones as a possible cause and stated precaution is required. France has brought in legislation. In the UK, they hand out leaflets at health clinics warning that children should not use mobile phones for more than ten minutes. If we bothered to read the labelling and packaging from mobile phone companies, they would tell us that one should keep one's mobile phone an inch away from one's head. I do not know whether anyone actually does it, but we should. I look forward to debating the Bill with Senator O'Toole and to giving him more information. After he does a little more research rather than throwing a cursory glance at the legislation, he might change his mind.
I also ask the Leader to organise a debate with the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Deputy Hanafin, in the House on car hire firms at airports. They seem to be blackmailing and forcing people to pay for insurance they do not require. In one case at Dublin Airport, an Australian couple were being badgered into paying over €1,300 to the hire company for insurance that they believed they already had and, eventually, the rental company, Thrifty, turned around and accepted €90. It had been looking for over €1,300, which is extortion. The same happened in Shannon Airport to people coming over from England. From the York family, the company looked for over €1,000 and eventually settled for less than €100. This is extortion by the car hire companies. I ask the Leader to contact the Minister to see how we can welcome tourists to the country and that their first experience is not extortion.
I will not get into the question of debating the mobile phone issue. All I remember is that in the past with almost every scientific development there are people who get scared about them. I have the same view on genetically modified foods. It seems to me that the future of Irish agriculture will depend on us adapting the most modern scientific methods of growing foods for the world, but let us debate that when the time comes.
I ask the Leader to draw the attention of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, to the development in Britain which they call the biggest revolution in Britain's National Health Service, NHS, in 60 years. As part of the coalition agreement in Britain, they have decided that doctors are to be given sole responsibility, rather than administrators, for patient care. They have decided to take the power away from the administrators and put the decision in the hands of doctors. When we made the decision here some years ago to do away with the health boards we established the HSE and to the best of my knowledge, we maintained all the administrators of all those various health boards. As in many other businesses and enterprises, the power should be in the hands of those who are looking after the final customer. In this case, it is the doctors who look after the care of patients. I really believe that is the direction to go. If the British coalition reached that as a deal that they would put into operation, and announced it yesterday, our health authority and the Minister should give serious attention to it during the next couple of months.
I want to bring my Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and Independent colleagues up to date on developments in the treatment of the 32 thalidomide survivors. The Cathaoirleach kindly secured the hearing of my Adjournment matter last night. The significant role of an Adjournment was proved last night because at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children, the Minister referred to the Adjournment that was taken last night on the thalidomide situation. My requests, on behalf of the thalidomide survivors, are an apology, proper compensation and disclosure of all legal documents. The Minister, Deputy Harney, declared she had no difficulty with disclosing all of the documents. She did not see why they would not. Therefore, we have a significant breakthrough on one of the significant items.
The thalidomide survivors, as I explained to the Minister yesterday, are in constant pain, morning, noon and night. They require physiotherapy and traction. When one speaks to Ms Finola Cassidy, the association's secretary, one does not see or feel her pain because she can get by with one hand and three fingers. She is such an inspiration.
The Minister's response to the Adjournment last night stated the State had sympathy. As well as disclosing the documents, getting proper compensation, I want not only sympathy but an apology from the State on why it left it eight or nine months after the drug had been withdrawn in Germany by the manufacturer and it was not withdrawn here in time.
Children were born deformed in this country when they should not have been.
I second and commend the remarks of the last speaker. It is a very worthy cause. Senator Fitzgerald, other colleagues and I share a concern that the Government will not be answerable to the Houses of the Oireachtas for a period of two to three months for the extraordinary conditions which apply at the moment. We believe this is unacceptable and very wrong. Given the times we are in, it is contemptuous of the people who seek direction, leadership and hope. For this reason, it is a serious matter. Parliament should only be adjourned this year for the month of August. It would be a way of saying to the people that at least we empathise and understand their situation. Never would there be such an extraordinary set of circumstances pertaining whereby that would be necessary.
Is the Senator putting a question to the Leader on this matter?
Will the Leader comment on this issue and convey the concern of the House and my personal concern regarding the cutbacks in medical cards? This is an example of what we should be debating in the coming weeks rather than going into recess. I refer to the cutbacks in dental care under the medical card scheme. I have raised this issue before. When the cuts were announced in March, the Irish Dental Association warned of the negative impact this would have on medical card holders. Yesterday, at the Joint Committee on Health and Children the chief executive of the Irish Dental Association, Fintan Hourihan, echoed this previous warning. He said the cutbacks had caused chaos, confusion and hardship to vulnerable people and he cited several examples. It is a very serious matter. People with chronic illnesses are being denied dental care. I call on the Leader to hold a special debate and we should reconvene to do so.
I enjoin Senator Mark Daly's comments on mobile phone labelling. It is important to have a debate on this matter. Unlike what Senator O'Toole stated, we are discussing the labelling of phones to allow people to make up their own minds. It is not a silly season issue at all. In the past, people used to say the same about cigarettes. It is now commonly held that the health warning on cigarettes is important. There is a proven link with lung cancer which, originally, was thought not to be the case.
Hear, hear.
I enjoin Senator Mary White's comments on thalidomide. This an important issue. I trust Senators from all parties are behind the call. There was a breakthrough in the committee yesterday because the Minister, Deputy Mary Harney, stated full information would be made available to the 32 thalidomide survivors. I hope their case will be fully dealt with in due course.
I refer to the smart economy, which several Senators mentioned today. It is important to hold a debate on the smart economy to be clear what we are discussing and what progress has been made in respect of it. All parties on every side of the House believe there is great potential in the smart economy but the question I wish to put is whether it is happening on the ground. There is evidence it is not taking place to the extent it must and it is important to hold a full debate on this matter and all other documents relating to the economy early in the new session.
I remind the Leader he committed yesterday to informing us today regarding the Dublin mayoral Bill with which the Dingle — Daingean Uí Chúis matter is tied up. This is the urgency.
I refer to the availability of credit, a matter touched on by Senator Fitzgerald and others and about which there is a great difference of opinion. Most of us believe credit is not flowing and I believe it is not flowing properly to oil the wheels of the economy. Some of this is understandable because of the dire situation in which we find ourselves. John Trethowan, the credit reviewer, is a decent, honourable man and a good prudential banker, not of the other kind, in my experience and knowledge. If he states the main banks are making credit available, I believe him. However, the question is the extent to which it is available and, sadly, this is where the deficiency lies. It is not available to the extent we would wish to make the improvements we wish to see materialise. I have no doubt good, viable businesses are obtaining the credit they need. However, we must go somewhat further than this given the situation we are in. We could usefully hold a debate about the matter and it would be interesting to have the Minister in the House to outline his view and that of the Department with regard to the situation. I do not agree with the length of the recess either.
I will address it.
Good.
I congratulate my colleague, Senator Mary White, on the progress she has made in respect of thalidomide victims. The three requests she is making warrant positive outcomes in each case, not only the disclosure of the legal documents, but in the compensation and apology. I would like to think we will see these forthcoming. I trust the Leader will take the opportunity to relay this message to the appropriate authorities and to encourage success on the other two fronts as well.
I refer to Senator Fitzgerald's proposal regarding the difficulties we are in as a country and the challenges we face. We are in extraordinary times which deserve an extraordinary reaction and response. Many support Senator Fitzgerald's view that we should not take a break for the period involved given the challenges with which we are currently faced and this is my view as well. Equally, I maintain there is no point in saying we will sit unless we have a meaningful agenda on how to best address the challenges facing the country. I refer to a point I have raised here on many occasions, that is, there should be all party and Leader agreement on such issues, they should be tabled well in advance and everyone should contribute in a meaningful and positive way. This is how the public expects us to respond to such challenges.
I refer to the comments of Senator Coghlan with regard to SMEs and moneys made available by the two main banks, namely, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks. I support the view that it is easy for banks to give to good, viable businesses. The issue is that risk takers also require support. Most importantly, the equity requirement must be played down rather than played up, which the banks are doing at present. Will the Leader table a discussion later this year on supports by Government for SMEs?
I did not get an opportunity to put on the Order Paper the motion, promised yesterday, on the application of the guillotine to debates on legislation. It is probably as well to take time to consider the matter. I advise colleagues that the following motion will be on the Order Paper in the autumn: "That Seanad Éireann resolves that Committee Stage debates on legislation should not be curtailed by time limits, save where exceptional and emergency circumstances arise and where such circumstances are put to the Seanad for consideration." There is no need to repeat what I stated yesterday other than to say I believe we took a wrong step.
All Members have the right to put in a motion if they so wish.
I trust parties will consider their position in respect of this issue. I refer to the quarterly report of the ESRI. One awaits its quarterly reports in the way in which one anticipates a ghost story. Today's headline that 120,000 people will leave the country by the end of 2011 is stirring and disturbing. In the coming months our motto should be to bring those people back home as soon as possible. There are positives. A total of 1.9 million are working, 500,000 more than at the beginning of the Celtic tiger period, but only by being willing to make the hard choices in the coming months and keep to the programme on which we have embarked will we have any hope of bringing them home. We have to focus, therefore, on competitiveness, bringing down the cost of doing business and efficiencies in the semi-State sector. When we have debates in the coming months on the hard choices that must be made, let us think of the people we want to bring back home as soon as possible because if we are sincere about doing this, we will be ready to make the hard choices.
I commend the Irish Missionary Union which, among others, has brought to our attention the plight of asylum seekers in Mosney, County Meath. When one thinks of people being forced to relocate against their will without consultation or consideration of their individual needs from a place in which they have been based for the past five years, one thinks of the gulags and China preparing for the Olympic Games.
The Senator's time is up. He has made his point. I call Senator Hanafin.
We must not place financial expediency ahead of human dignity. I hope the Government will take note of this.
The Senator should respect the Chair.
Earlier we received indications from ESRI representatives about what they believe might happen to the structural deficit. Its presentation as a fait accompli by the Opposition is typical. The reality is EUROSTAT decides what will happen, not the ESRI. It has been universally accepted, other than by the Opposition, that the way the economy has been managed is the best means of restoring prosperity to the county. There are good news stories, but to present this one as a fait accompli and being the final word which is always negative is simplistic. We need a debate on the economy to tease out the issues involved, not to look at this in the context of a good bank, bad bank or whatever Fianna Fáil brings forward is wrong and whatever the Opposition will do will be right. It is not as simple as that; tough decisions were made.
Wrong decisions were made.
We came to a crossroads and took tough decisions on behalf of the nation. However, we are beginning to see the benefits. I welcome the announcement by Tesco of the creation of 750 jobs.
Last week I asked the Leader about proposed legislation relating to on-line betting. It is imperative that the companies involved are brought into the tax net as a matter of urgency. The Taoiseach gave an indication that such legislation would be introduced before the summer, but we have not seen it. I do not know whether the Leader has found out what the position is since last week, but I would appreciate it if he could find out as soon as possible.
Senator Hanafin mentioned the benefits of Government policy. The benefits will result in 120,000 of our young people emigrating by the end of 2011 owing to the policies Fianna Fáil and its coalition partners have implemented in the past ten years. Unfortunately, our young people are reaping the reward — emigration. Everything we do in government and opposition should be geared towards the creation of jobs in the next few years. That should be the policy of every party; we should work together to ensure we can provide employment for all those who wish to work. That should be our aim. I, therefore, urge the Government parties to get together with the other parties. They have taken on board some policies advocated by Fine Gael, with which we have no problem. We will introduce more policies and will be delighted if the Government parties take a leaf from our book. I urge everyone to focus on the issue of job creation in the coming months.
I endorse the comments made by Senator Mary White on the thalidomide issue. I compliment her on keeping it on the agenda. I have no doubt she has the support of every Member.
Earlier I listened to the debate on the ESRI report which made gloomy reading. However, I compliment the Taoiseach on his efforts to implement a strategy to create initiatives between Ireland and the United States. I hope that will prove more fruitful in the coming months. I have problems with the phrase "smart economy". I do not know what it means, but it probably means knowledge and so forth. We need to have a major debate on how educational institutions are linked with the business world in order that they can have a vision for the future and establish where jobs might be created. The issue of how we keep our young people in jobs and can manage to bring those who have emigrated back should be at the forefront of the debate in the autumn. We need to constantly discuss how best to move forward. There is no absolute solution and there are no fixed ideas. What one says today might be wrong next month. Nobody has a panacea, but let us do everything we can to create an atmosphere in which jobs can be created. I would like to discuss these issues time and again when we resume in the autumn.
This is the final day of the summer session and I would like to respond to the allegations that have been continually made by Opposition Members about the Government's lack of interest in job creation. I attended the launch of a new business park initiative at Ireland West International Airport, Knock, County Mayo last Monday which was attended by other Oireachtas and council representatives. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation made it clear that the entire focus of Government policy was on job creation. The Taoiseach is in America trying to attract jobs. The Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport hit the ground running when she took over her brief. More than 250,000 people are employed in the tourism industry and she has encouraged the businesses involved to maintain and increase the number of jobs. The Minister for Social Protection also hit the ground running and will launch an expansion of the social employment scheme during the summer. If Opposition Members want to make accusations — they are entitled to make political charges — it is important, as Senator Hanafin and others said, to indicate that the focus of the Government, now that there is financial and fiscal stability following its good efforts in the past 18 months, is exclusively on job creation. As a former emigrant, I bemoan the fact that the ESRI should run lurid headlines that 120,000 people will emigrate.
Is the ESRI wrong?
Emigration has been the scourge of this country for generations. We cracked that nut in the past 15 years and I do not accept the prognostications of the ESRI.
The Senator is in denial.
We will see in time if that organisation is correct. It is a terrible headline to run. What hope will be given to young people if the only option is to take the boat or the aeroplane?
Senators Fitzgerald, O'Toole, Alex White, Walsh, Buttimer, Cummins, Ormonde and Mooney expressed serious concern about the challenges facing the Government in job creation. I join Senators in wishing the Taoiseach well. As Senators Mooney and Hanafin said, the Government's top priority is job creation and the Taoiseach is doing everything he can. The new Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation has attended the House to outline the current position. I wish them well in what they are trying to achieve. I also join Senator Hanafin in welcoming the announcement by Tesco of 750 new jobs.
Senator Coghlan asked about the Dublin mayor Bill. The up-to-date position is that the Bill is at an advanced stage and will be published in the late summer or early autumn.
Senators Fitzgerald, Coghlan, Mullen, Walsh and Hanafin commented on the announcement yesterday by the Minister for Finance that €6 billion would be invested in SMEs in the next two years. This is the start of getting cash flowing again in the private sector. I wholeheartedly welcome the Minister's announcement. I am surprised there was little mention by Members of this significant press conference yesterday. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation and the Minister for Finance told the people how rigid they will be in monitoring the distribution of this €6 billion per year over the next two years.
On the ESRI report, it is important we have these reports from time to time. I look forward to the announcement to be made by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, on training and upskilling and agree with that aspect of the report. However, I remind Members of previous ESRI reports and urge them to recall those of early 2007 when all the party manifestos were being fine tuned and of how out of touch it was in its projections then. Perhaps it is also out of touch in certain areas with this latest report. We welcome the hard work being done by the ESRI, its expertise and its projections. I fully agree with its recommendations on training, but point out that as far as our finances are concerned, the most important factor currently is the international and global market and how it views us. The order of the day for us must be to do whatever must be done to ensure we hold the confidence of the international market.
Senator Walsh welcomed RTE's excellent and outstanding programme last night on the Dublin bombings. I agree with his sentiments on that. Senator Buttimer spoke about the appointment of board members. As we all know, appointments to boards are made by the Government, on the recommendation, in most cases, of Ministers. I have no difficulty in allowing a debate on aviation.
Does the Leader think I was right with regard to the point I made?
I do not know what the Senator is talking about. I am not up to date on that.
The Leader does know. Will I repeat what I said? One of the ten companies propped up by shares in Anglo ——
The Leader is replying on the Order of Business. I want no interruptions.
I have no difficulty in having a debate on aviation.
Does the Leader think it was right that he was appointed ——
I will have to ask Senator Buttimer to leave the House if he continues to interrupt.
Senators Daly, Quinn and Ó Brolcháin raised the issues of mobile phone use and best practice. I would like to hear about best practice. When we visited the University of Waterloo campus in Canada a few years ago, significant research was being done by one of the major suppliers on emissions from mobile phone earpieces. I would like to assist the House with regard to a debate on this in the autumn. Senator Daly also raised the issue of car hire insurance, particularly as it relates to airports. He expressed his horror at and his experience of the overcharging that takes place. There is a procedure for reporting overcharging and the company involved. I will pass the Senator's comments on to the Minister with responsibility for tourism.
Senator Quinn suggested we should be like the UK and give doctors rather than administrators responsibility for patient care. I will pass his views on to the Minister. It seems like a common sense and reasonable request. Senator O'Reilly spoke about the difficulties faced by medical card holders in obtaining dental care. I have no difficulty with arranging a debate on that in the future.
Senators Mary White, Ó Brolcháin, Callely and Ormonde spoke about the proposals for dealing with the 32 people affected by thalidomide. I compliment Senator Mary White on the great work she is doing with regard to the advances announced yesterday and the other outstanding issues. The Minister, Deputy Mary Harney, has a caring attitude towards these unfortunate people. I hope the extra step can be taken to bring the situation to a successful conclusion.
Senator Mullen spoke about the Irish Missionary Union at Mosney and I will pass his strong views on to the Minister. Senator Cummins asked for up to date information on the issue of Internet on-line betting. I will get back to the Senator later this afternoon on that matter.
Order of Business agreed to.