Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

Senator Ryan referred to opposition to moving Development Co-operation Ireland to Limerick. That matter was debated by the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs at which representatives of the various NGOs were present. I cannot understand why people would not wish to go to Limerick because it is a fine city.

The Senator also inquired, like Senator Brian Hayes, about the 11,500 children born here of non-national parents. However, he was more exercised about obtaining the facts in order that we might have a full debate on the matter.

Senator Hanafin requested a debate on decentralisation. As stated earlier, there is only one slot available next week for debating matters other than legislation and I have designated this for a debate with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, on Aer Lingus. However, we will see if we can defer this and hold a debate on decentralisation instead.

The Senator also referred to the position of SDS. I met the assistant secretary of the Department who is in charge of An Post who asked that there not be a public debate on the matter at present. I say this in the event that people might think we are dodging a debate. We cannot have such a debate yet because of the matters currently being discussed with the unions.

Senator Bannon also requested a debate on decentralisation. He cannot complain because Longford is doing fine and the outlook for it is great.

Senator Bannon and Senator Maurice Hayes inquired about EU legislation. The Joint Committee on European Affairs has a sub-committee which is charged with EU scrutiny of which Deputy Deasy of Fine Gael is chairman. He replaced Deputy Gay Mitchell in the post on the latter's election to the European Parliament. In addition, Senator Bradford is a member of the joint committee which, I understand, does good work. The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs is also charged with scrutinising certain EU matters. Senator Bannon made a valid point about the use of this forum and I will elaborate on that when I come to deal with the points raised by Senator Maurice Hayes.

Senator Leyden also requested a debate on decentralisation. He indicated his disappointment that the jobs are not coming on stream now but made a strong case to the effect that they will come on stream.

Senator Norris inquired about a particular aircraft. I have in my possession approximately 30 pages of information that I spent yesterday procuring. I was assisted in this regard by an extremely helpful official in the Department of Foreign Affairs. The documentation provided covers many issues and lists a large number of salient facts. It indicates that the number of the aircraft concerned, which is owned by Premier Executive Transport Services, a small US airline, is N379P and that this aeroplane has used Shannon Airport on 13 occasions. I would be here until midnight if I were to read all the information contained in the documentation into the record. I will pass it on to the Senator and perhaps he, in turn, might leave it outside the Chamber on public display.