David Norris (Independent)

Certainly. I wish to refer to motion No. 19 of No. 17, in my name and those of the other Independent Members, on the Order Paper. It is appropriate that the Seanad, which had as one of its past Members the founder of the Abbey Theatre, the late W. B. Yeats, should request the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism to give an account to the House of what is happening regarding the theatre's restructuring and relocation. The Abbey Theatre is a national asset and it is not appropriate that businessmen, however distinguished, should regard it as they did in their previous attempt to filch it from its historic site on Abbey Street as a "cultural key in a commercial development". It is a national asset and should not pass into the commercial arena without a debate in this House.

I support my colleague, Senator O'Toole, in his call for a debate on the Kyoto Agreement. We will not meet the targets set by the Kyoto protocol and even if we did, all the protocol does is slow down the rate of increase. It is rather sad that we are not doing this. Many people this morning may have heard the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, give a not particularly distinguished interview because he evaded every question by engaging in flummery. This is not the way to address the very serious problem of climate change, which we have noted with the Arctic ice cap melting. We are now supposed to be at what is termed a tip-over point where the world's climate may never recover. I therefore strongly support Senator O'Toole's call for a debate on the issue and on No. 17, motion No. 23, on the Order Paper.