Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

I have to pinch myself at times when I hear statements about affordable housing and land. Where has the Government been for the past six years? Speaking at the Irish Management Institute annual conference in Killarney, the Taoiseach suddenly decided to launch a new agenda and a new direction. There has probably been a conversion at this stage.

I wish to make one brief point. We all welcome what is happening in the North and hope that there will ultimately be good news in that regard. On television last night, there was a shot of the US President grabbing a child of less than two years of age in his arms. In comparison, it was rather nauseating to read reports in today's newspapers about what is taking place in Baghdad in regard to cluster bombs and what is happening to young children there. Unfortunately, much of what we see on television provides a sanitised version of events. I welcome the fact that Mr. Robert Fisk and others report objectively on what is happening in Iraq.

In recent days there was a deplorable arson attack on a house in Limerick which has left a mother and two young children in hospital. It has been suggested that there may be a link between a person of 15 years of age, who has been involved in many previous crimes and for whom a place cannot be found in an institution for juvenile offenders. That is a shocking indictment of the system. Last week, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform came before the House and—