David Norris (Independent)

I congratulate my colleagues, Senators Ross and O'Toole, on their work in drawing the situation in the auctioneering business to public attention and their success in regard to a commission. In addition to the point made effectively and ably by Senator Ross on the wireless this morning, he did the Seanad proud because he took up an issue the impact of which hits many young people in terms of house prices and he dealt with it in quite a magisterial way.

In addition to examining the nonsense of dozens of surveyors' reports being produced whereby young people may not have an opportunity to buy a house because the price increases beyond their means as they have to pay these exorbitant fees, the question of the involvement of solicitors should also be examined. It is idiotic that purchasers have to carry out so-called searches for titles and so on. Such searches are carried out dozens of times when they should be done only once and given an official stamp. In that way we would know that a title has been validated by some central legal authority and people would not need to pay for the same work to be done over and over again.

I do not suppose there will be much time for a review, even a short one, of the situation in the Middle East in which this House has taken a consistent interest. If it not possible before the end of the session could we have an urgent debate to review developments early in the new session, particularly in the light of the very troubling broadcast made by King Abdullah of Jordan, which was quite apocalyptic? He envisages a situation where there really could be a meltdown in the Middle East, which would bring us very close to a third world war. It is a very worrying situation.

The Israeli Supreme Court found that the wall was wrong. Congratulations must be extended to it. Its decision suggests there are elements of democracy active in Israel. However, I am very disturbed that a senior Israeli Cabinet Minister said the country will not accept the ruling of the International Court of Justice in this matter. Where did that come from? It is the example of the Americans who, as they exited Iraq, passed legislation indemnifying themselves against charges of major human rights abuses. They then put Saddam Hussein on trial for human rights abuses. It is an absolute idiotic nonsense.