Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

The Senator also raised the situation in accident and emergency departments and the cases of elderly people who had to wait a long time to be admitted, coupling that with the closure of some of the facilities in Peamount Hospital. As soon as the Minister for Health and Children has time, we will request that he attends a general debate in the House.

Senator Norris has also been asking for some time for a debate on Tibet and the motion on the Order Paper is in his name. I will be happy to arrange such a debate as soon as possible.

Senator O'Meara warned against using the Constitution for political purposes in any referendum and congratulated the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights Sub-Committee on the Barron Report. On behalf of all Members, I congratulate the one member of the sub-committee from this House, Senator Jim Walsh. I know from speaking to the Whip and to the Senator that the sub-committee did a huge amount of work over very long hours. The committee must have had a heavy workload. It involved listening to people telling their stories and working through the ramifications of all that. I am not making a party political point in saying we were well served in the Seanad by the Member who served on the committee.

Senator O'Meara also raised the terrible and graphic events of what happened in Iraq. It reminded me in a macro way of the Lord of the Flies in the way that the people relished what they were doing. It was terrible. One wonders if invasion is ever worth it when that is the outcome. Senator Minihan also raised the matter of the horrific images from Iraq of the four civilians in particular and what was done to them.

Senator Bannon wants the Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, to come into the House to talk about the property sale of Údarás na Gaeltachta. He also wants the Minister for Defence to come to the House to talk about our level of preparedness in the event of a terrorist attack.

Senator Mansergh called for a debate on the report of the Sub-Committee of the on the Barron Report. He also called for a debate on the proposed referendum, a matter on which we need debate.

It was good to hear on the news this morning that the Labour Relations Commission is active and involved in the social partnership, as everybody wants it to be. I hope there will be a successful outcome to the An Post dispute.

Senator Browne called for a report on the matter of the land surrounding psychiatric hospitals. He also raised the question of whether the banning of plastic bags could lead to an initiative to make chewing gum less sticky, something we would all like as the problem is quite bad.