Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

The Senator asked for a debate on crime, which I hope to arrange. Senator Mansergh summed up economists and politicians in his own way.

Senator Finucane raised the matter to which he referred in the House yesterday and on which there are divergent views. Senator Ryan answered across the benches, making a point about one not being supposed to shoot at people. There is no policy of shooting at people. In answer to both points of view and to Senator Dooley, it will clearly put people off coming to Shannon, leaving aside the matter of Iraq, the planes, and the troops in flight. The public here and abroad, particularly in the US, might ask if they will be landing where these things are happening when they come on their holidays. It is a huge deterrent to their coming to the mid-west region and Ireland eventually. Clearly, the right to protest in a peaceful way does not give the right to protest in a subversive way.

Senator Dooley asked for a debate on Shannon. I suggest that he raises the issue in the course of the debate on Iraq. That is what happened in the Dáil when that debate took place. I know the Senator feels strongly about that region.

Senator Norris stated that the money raised by the CAB should be directed back into the communities in which all the distress was felt and drug-taking took place, a point that should be put to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Senator was speaking of ring-fencing the money in a particular way, not in the general sense of directing the money into the finances of the country.

Senator Norris also asked about the proposals of the Minister for Finance. He would not disown all economists, particularly Trinity ones.