Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

Senator Brian Hayes, the leader of the Opposition, raised the matter of the imminent retirement of Archbishop Robin Eames. All of those who have met, watched, observed and listened to Dr. Eames will know what a beneficial influence he has been. His own viewpoint was always one of tolerance and understanding of all peoples and he particularly promoted ecumenism. As Leader of this House I will write a letter representing the views and good wishes of Senators. That would be a good thing to do, particularly in view of the dreadful death in Ballymena of the young man, Mr. Michael McIlveen. In that context, I was glad to hear Dr. Ian Paisley issue a strong statement on the matter.

Senator Brian Hayes also asked about Europe Day. Let me be clear on that matter. We have had Europe Days here in the past and nobody paid a bit of notice. All of the MEPs came here, en masse on one occasion. They also came here singly, one by one, two years in a row. When I was going home last Thursday or Friday, I heard on the radio that all Members of the Houses are to be gathered together, but nobody told us about it. Be that as it may, however, we all want to do our bit.

We are all to be gathered together, apparently. I received five e-mails with suggestions for questions to ask in the debate. There will be European representatives present to answer questions. It was a good notion. The publicity documentation says that Ministers, Deputies, MEPs and Senators will be united in a debate but somebody forgot to tell the dramatis personnae about it.

Today is Europe Day.

As I understand it, the Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food will meet in the House tomorrow. However, other matters will also be debated. The European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development will attend. The Commissioner previously spoke in this House as did Mr. Pat Cox when he was President of the European Parliament. All of the Irish MEPs, who give great service, also spoke in this House. I remember we were quite riveted by some of them.

On Thursday we will discuss the report of the Joint Committee on European Affairs on migration. We chose that report because it comes from that committee. It will make a good testing ground for a debate on human trafficking for sexual exploitation. We will do our bit for Europe day on Thursday. I also wish to inform the House that, as those on the CPP already know, we have requested Mr. John Bruton, the EU ambassador to the United States, to come before the House to discuss his role, and he will do so in late September or early October. We will see whether a blind bit of notice will be taken of us on that day. I bet it will. That will be our contribution to a debate on Europe and all of the TDs can come to this House if they wish and listen to us. They cannot join in asking questions.