Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

While that is a good idea, I do not know how my party would view it on a national basis. The Senator is right in saying that confidence cannot be undermined. I will send a note to the Taoiseach's office informing it of the Senator's suggestion, which I hope he has the right to make it on behalf of his party, as it would open many doors. While the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, is not legally obliged to attend the Seanad to discuss Aer Lingus, I will suggest that he does so to answer the Senator's request. I commend the Clerk of the Seanad on her work on the matter of e-voting.

Senator O'Toole agreed with Senator Brian Hayes about dealing with e-voting on an all-party basis. He also addressed the matter of An Taisce and its words of criminality in respect of a well known person's application for an extension. If it had four feet, An Taisce would have shot itself in them. It has done marvellous work in the areas of water quality, green and blue flags and so on. Young people are proud of their green flags and what they have gained for their schools, but An Taisce is systematically trying to undermine rural communities.

In County Westmeath, people — usually farmers — have applied to open quarries to supply materials to Ascon Limited, which is building the new road. The county council has granted those applications, but each has been appealed by An Taisce irrespective of whether the person wants to open a quarry for a week, month or year. These farmers have no other forms of income. They are trying to make some money from their assets by providing a company with what it needs to build a necessary road. An Taisce has given them a blanket non-recommendation. It should examine its conscience if it has one.

Senator Ryan spoke on e-voting and stated that the computers work, but the software does not. I do not want to be elected or, if I am to be humble, fail to be elected by means of a computer. Instead, I want to be elected by people writing their votes on paper, putting them into boxes and having them counted. I welcome that e-voting will not be used in the next election, as machines can go wrong. The Senator also raised the matter of the increased rates of MRSA and how the Department of Finance has turned down the Health Service Executive's request to seek 50 people to deal with infection controls. The Senator asked for a debate on Aer Lingus.

Senator Dardis has read the whole report on e-voting and said a debate is necessary and a way forward must be found. He spoke about the software and hardware systems. His comments on An Taisce were interesting. His analogy of our being in a zoo and people gazing and gaping at us as they went back to their city pads——