David Norris (Independent)

I ask the Leader if we could have a debate on Iraq. We have a tradition of looking at the situation in that country and current developments there are very worrying. Last week, American forces decided to enter the city of Haditha in military form and attacked two cars containing families fleeing. Ten people were killed, including three children. Very little is done about keeping this under review. The British army also got itself into a very difficult situation in Basra with two undercover SAS agents who were disguised as Arab mercenaries and carried guns and ammunition. I asked what the Colombia Three were doing in Colombia and I ask the same question on the same principle about the British army in this case. What were these agents doing? This question was neglected by the British media.

We should examine the question of asylum seekers. A report in Metro magazine told the story of a young Nigerian man who came to this country five years ago. He applied for asylum and was turned down. He then applied on humanitarian grounds and was again turned down. He was served a deportation order and committed suicide, leaving a partner and a small child, whose fate is also uncertain. We are told that these people are not serious and that their stories are cock-and-bull. The situation was serious enough for the man in question to prefer to take his own life rather than be returned to Nigeria.

I support Senator Morrissey's call for a debate on the transport system in Dublin. It would be an opportunity for us to vigorously reintroduce, as this House did very effectively with support from all quarters, the notion of the only sensible solution — a metro.