Feargal Quinn (Independent)

On a blustery summer day last year I saw a yacht run into difficulty a few hundred metres from the shore in Dublin bay. After ten minutes I realised the mast had broken, the yacht had turned upside down and its two members were unable to get it upright again. I telephoned the RNLI and within ten minutes the boat was rescued. I raise this because it was a dramatic incident and I realised the Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a voluntary organisation which does not accept State funding but operates on its own. When it runs short of money it gets it from Britain. As Senator Ó Murchú noted, since the Garda reserve force was proposed some time ago many people have had closed minds to the possibility of an unpaid reserve force working in our community. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a good example of such a body and we should not close our minds to such a force helping to solve the problems we have. The proposal represents an effort by the Minister to do something about it. I am sure we will debate it and I ask the Leader to find time to do so in a cool atmosphere. The Minister's concept is worthy of consideration.

There was a reference this morning to the amount of waste paper and litter arising from the free newspapers being distributed in Dublin. We in this House are responsible for a huge amount of waste paper.