David Norris (Independent)

In the comments on the situation in St. Patrick's Cathedral, although the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Garda Commissioner have been widely congratulated, there has been no mention of the dean and staff of the cathedral. I compliment them on the sensitive and Christian way in which they behaved. I regret that they were fairly strongly sidelined at a particular point, which is clear from a statement in which they stated they were instructed by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to withdraw their negotiator. They felt they had reached a set of fair and equitable proposals but were told to get out of the situation by the Garda. Nevertheless, I recognise gardaí behaved extremely well and that no harm was caused to any of the people involved.

I am also glad — I am sure the Cathaoirleach will also be glad — that the institution of the guardian ad litem was called into play to help the younger people in this situation. The Cathaoirleach will probably recall that this was an amendment to the Children Bill introduced by Senator Ryan and me. No mention of that appeared in the media at the time, although it took nearly a month for us to argue the toss. This shows the way in which the work of the Seanad is sometimes ignored in the media.

Some of those involved seem to have a rather mixed background, if it is true that one of them gave as his reasons for seeking asylum the fact that he had raped and murdered four women while a member of the Taliban. It does not seem a particularly good reason for getting asylum in this country. However, they are a mixed group.

It is wrong to suggest we have a wonderful asylum appeals system. We do not. There is a case before the High Court at present in this regard. There is no publication——