Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

I hope the Leader will arrange for a debate on human rights at an early date. In an atmosphere of war, individual human rights issues tend to get lost and are not covered in the media. Members often try to raise such issues on the Order of Business when, perhaps, it is not appropriate to do so. Such issues include the fact that hundreds of thousands of people around the world may die from starvation in the near future, that hundreds of thousands more will die from AIDS in Africa, that there are difficulties in North Korea and that there is an ongoing court case in Colombia. We had an in-depth discussion of human rights issues in the lifetime of the previous Seanad and I would welcome a similar debate soon.