David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support the proposed amendment to the Order of Business. I concur with Senators who described last week's debate on flooding with the Minister as most unsatisfactory.

Unfortunately, the Minister did not have answers to many of the questions that were asked. The emergency funding of €45 million that has been made available is completely inadequate to deal with the damage that has been caused by flooding in some parts of the country, including counties Galway, Cork, Kerry, Waterford and Limerick. Dwellings have been damaged, livestock has been lost, businesses have been destroyed and land has been made unworkable. In some parts of the country, it has been described as the worst flooding in living memory. While every cent is valuable - it will be good news for the local authorities that will be able to distribute money to those who need it - the proposed allocation of €45 million is simply not enough. We need to do more.

I would like to refer briefly to the fact that this House will not sit on Thursday. It is unsatisfactory that this House is being punished for the Government's failure to get its act together. We do not have legislation to enable us to sit. Senators have called for discussions on a range of issues in recent weeks. We could easily debate some of those issues on Thursday if the Government could provide the relevant Ministers. Flood damage, on which Senators have called for a debate again today, is an example of such an issue. We could discuss the forthcoming whistleblowing legislation. Just one hour has been set aside for tomorrow's debate on the youth guarantee, which is of fundamental importance to young people. Senator Mac Conghail has called today for a debate on prostitution and the purchase of sex. We could consider many other issues, including alcohol consumption, homophobia and collective bargaining and trade union recognition, in this House on Thursday. We will be a laughing stock again on Thursday even though it will not be our fault that this House will not be sitting. It is appropriate to raise this unsatisfactory arrangement with the Leader here today. I cannot see why the Leader cannot get Ministers to take statements on any or all of those issues on Thursday. I am not happy we are being told again that we are not sitting because there is no business. It is simply not good, in the context of Seanad reform and how we do business in this House.