Tom Morrissey (Progressive Democrats)

Like other Senators, I condemn out of hand the wildcat strike that has taken place in the past 48 hours. My party has always said that reform should be part of the great investment in public transport, including in our railways. Only last week the interconnector for the DART in Dublin was being designed and spoken about. It is inappropriate for a strike such as this to spread across the country at a time when we are trying to improve people's confidence in public transport. There is no question but that it must be condemned. Irrespective of whether management or unions are at fault regarding the strike, safety must be paramount on our railways, especially if we are to encourage people to use public transport.

Will the Leader make time available in this or the next session for a debate on our ports? The former Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Gallagher, recently published a report by Indecon which clearly illustrated the need for further investment in port infrastructure. Now that our ports have been brought under the aegis of the Department of Transport under Transport 21, I would like a debate on this matter. The group of 100 exporters and the large companies of this country, which have been interviewed about the report, accord high priority to further investment in our ports under the next national development plan.