Derek McDowell (Labour)

I wish to take up the issue raised by Senator O'Toole when referring to the demonstrations in Dublin and elsewhere last Saturday. I was astonished to hear the Taoiseach on radio this morning suggest, as only he could do, that people were demonstrating in favour of current Government policy. I would not presume to speak on behalf of everybody who was at the march in Dublin on Saturday, but I can certainly speak on behalf of some of them. I ask the Leader to make it crystal clear to the Taoiseach that the majority of people at the march on Saturday were not demonstrating in favour of current Government policy. The majority of people there are anxious that the Government take a distinctly different stance to the approach of sitting on the fence it has adopted in recent weeks. They are also anxious that we should support France, Germany, Belgium and the other neutral non-aligned countries in the European Union in saying to the United States that we do not believe the case for war is proven, that we do not believe it has been sufficiently proven that Saddam Hussein is in possession of weapons which present an immediate threat to his neighbours or those further afield and that this and a second UN resolution are prerequisites for war. I ask the Leader to convey this to the Taoiseach.

On a somewhat lighter note, I was interested and a little disturbed, as I am sure others were, to read the findings of an opinion poll published in today's edition of The Irish Times which suggest that up to 50% of young people continue to smoke. It appears most do so somewhat intolerantly of the wishes of others in that the bulk of smokers still feel quite entitled to go into pubs and restaurants and continue smoking, thereby inflicting passive smoking on others. As the debate on the issue has a long way to go, we could perform a service by inviting to the House the Minister for Health and Children and other interested parties to debate the report of the expert group on passive smoking to see whether we can move on the issue. It will be very difficult for the Minister to implement the ban without a greater measure of public support than appears to be available.