David Norris (Independent)

I thank Senator Ross for sharing his time. I too welcome decentralisation and also the implementation process put in place by the Minister. However, he has not set a completion date which raises the suspicion that it will be a long time before it takes place. I too agree there is a geographical element to the decentralisation. This is understandable in the short term but may be negative in the long term.

I welcome, as I am sure the Minister of State does, that the Department of Agriculture and Food will move to Portlaoise, which is in my little bit of bog and just over the hill from Deputy Parlon. On the transfer of the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism and everything else they can find to Killarney, this may be appropriate as far as tourism is concerned. However, it indicates the need for a separate Department of the Arts as throwing them in with sports and tourism demeans them. As we have such a wonderful and fine artistic tradition, particularly in the literary arts, there should be a separate Minister with responsibility for this area.

There is a slightly instant quality about this debate, as the Minister has only just stopped speaking. I said a great deal of what I wish to say about serious topics during the debate on the Estimates some weeks ago, in anticipation of this debate. I considered proposing an amendment to this motion, to change it from "That Seanad Éireann notes the Budget Statement" to "That Seanad Éireann ignores the Budget Statement". One of my gripes is that the Constitution does not trust this House with anything remotely connected with finance. Amendments can be ruled out of order because they involve a charge on the Exchequer. There is a case for examining this matter as part of the process of Seanad reform.