David Norris (Independent)

Of course, we all welcome votes and let us not pretend otherwise because without them we would not be here to speak about matters in which we are interested. Like Senator O'Toole, I think the DIT should be enfranchised whether or not it is to become a university. I would like to see all the Dublin colleges, including the DIT, come in with Trinity College so we would have a Dublin constituency. The NUI, which was always national, would then have a larger and wider constituency so we would get two different characteristics. Otherwise, one might as well lock the whole lot in together. That is really a by-product of this issue, however, which is not terribly important to the debate.

I congratulate Senator Tuffy on one of the best speeches I have ever heard her make in the House. She really spoke passionately from the heart. She made me green with envy when she said the DIT is open on Saturdays, which is a lot more than this place is. We could look at that idea if we are really serious about the work we are doing here.

God bless Senator O'Toole's innocence, although I never thought I would use that phrase concerning him. If he thinks Brendan Behan was a tradesman, he did not know him. I knew Behan vaguely. Some time ago, a letter from the North of Ireland came into my possession complaining in language that would take the paint off this ceiling, about Behan's utter, total and absolute inadequacy as a house painter and the various diversions he got up to. He would have fitted into the DIT, however, not as an apprentice house painter but in the centre for the creative arts.

The aspect I like about this Grangegorman project is that it will bring so much together, creating a vital synergy between all these arts. We know the history of Kevin Street and Bolton Street, which goes back to 1887.