David Norris (Independent)

I support the comments of Senator Brian Hayes about the defiance of the smoking ban. He has isolated an important issue. No sectoral interest has the right to flout the law, particularly when it involves potential damage to the health of citizens. It is wrong and unacceptable.

I ask the Leader to urgently raise a case with the Department of Foreign Affairs, which relates to a young Chinese man who was studying in Ireland. He is a Falun Gong practitioner who was put in a labour camp by the Chinese authorities. As a result of pressure involving the Irish Government he was released some time ago. He wishes to return to Ireland with his wife to resume his studies here but he has been held up in the Irish Embassy because of a visa problem. It is remarkable that someone should be allowed out by the Chinese authorities after all this difficulty and then, for bureaucratic reasons, have another problem. His name is Feng Liu and I would be grateful if the Leader would raise this matter with the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

This House played a role in a discussion on abortion, and I took a particular line on the freedom of information about abortion in light of my experience. We now have a dreadful situation in that at least two backstreet abortions have been performed on members of the immigrant or asylum seeking community. Part of this results from the mean-spirited removal of certain sections of the population from the operation of the social security services. We say we are serious about the respect for the right to life and such ideals but as we speak employers are entitled to refuse to renew work permits for people like these two women once they become pregnant. That is shameful and we should draw it to the attention of the relevant authorities, as it is the kind of pressure which leads to abortions. If we are serious we should address this issue and make life easier for these unfortunate women.

A debate on the Freedom of Information Act is necessary in light of the Ombudsman's report. Ms O'Reilly said, as we predicted on this side of the House, that the charges introduced did not even cover the administration of their imposition. The only reason could be to prevent people from getting access to information. The Taoiseach said yesterday in the Dáil that inquiries to his Department under the Act had dropped to one third of what they were, and the majority of those requests came from journalists. That is worrying, because journalists have a right to this information. They have a right to investigate, though sometimes they get it wrong and they misinterpret the information they are given. We should be prepared to correct that misinformation but we need a debate on this issue, as what was said on this side of the House has been validated by the Ombudsman.