Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

The leader of the Opposition, Senator Brian Hayes, mentioned the sad death, as all are, of Denis Donaldson. He likened his killing to that of Eamon Collins in the late 1990s. He suggested the Government be more circumspect in its comments and pointed to tensions in the republican movement, arising from the uncovering of its criminality and its attempted dissipation. He said there were people who still believed that intimidation and threats worked. We do not yet know who committed the heinous murder of Mr. Donaldson so to ascribe it to any particular group or country would be wrong. One can only imagine what an awful death he suffered.

Senator O'Toole referred to the 31 offences attracting penalty points and argued they would not decrease road fatalities, because one third of them are caused by drink. We should adopt the Australian or Swiss model where a person found guilty of drinking and driving is banned from driving for life. We need to introduce drastic measures to convince people they cannot drink and drive.

Senator Ryan called for a debate on the privatisation of Aer Lingus and asked the Minister to come to this House to explain the reasons behind his decision. He also asked about pharmacies and Senator Feeney provided an answer, to the effect that, as the Tánaiste apparently said, a Bill would be published before the summer. There are two pharmacy Bills, and we had thought they would not be published until the autumn. As Senator Ryan said, the last legislation was enacted in 1870 so hopefully there will be progress on that before the summer break.

Senator Ó Murchú sent best wishes to the Taoiseach and said it was unhelpful for Dr. Paisley and the DUP to sit on the fence.

I agree with Senator Finucane who praised RTE for cancelling Patrick "Dutchy" Holland's appearance on "The Late Late Show". One can only imagine how the audience would have reacted to his appearance and the very idea was audacious, to say the least.

I agree with Senator Kitt's call for seatbelts on school transport. Senator Quinn raised the Forfás report regarding our overdependency on oil. We have all received a copy, and I agree that it would make a very useful debate, which we will have after Easter.

Senator Mansergh spoke on what I agree was the squalid murder in Donegal, welcoming Sinn Féin's disavowal of any involvement and stressing the importance of persevering with the primacy of politics. He also welcomed the good health of the public finances and the conversion of a party to our taxation policies.

I am pleased Senator Terry expressed her happiness at seeing the Taoiseach at the GLEN function. She wants me to ascertain whether civil partnerships legislation is to be introduced following the report to which she referred, publication of which appears to have moved to the autumn. She has published a very fine paper on the matter, and I will answer her question in due course.

Senator Lydon requested a debate on driving under the influence of drink. One may drink or drive but not do the two together.

On the question of the privatisation of Aer Lingus we have seen a volte-face from Senator Ross, from whose eyes the scales appear to have dropped. He is not present, but I would say the same thing if he were.