Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

The more the Senator interrupts the bigger and the deeper the hole he is digging for himself. It is probable that tonight's proceedings will not receive great publicity. If the people of Ireland heard the specious arguments being thrown up, one after another, with the best of humour, against putting in place a workable law which puts Ireland on a par with every other European Union member state and that Senator McDowell was asking me to accept that a carrier will be exempt from liability, because a different company or agency checks people on to flights, and therefore that I cannot have carrier liability because it is unfair and that Irish immigration officers should do the work themselves, the only logical explanation I can think of is that he wants to maximise State employment in Ireland and recruit a Border police who spend their days checking everybody who comes into this country.