David Norris (Independent)

I join with my colleagues in requesting the Minister to come into the House so that there should be a full debate on the issue raised by Senator Ormonde and previous speakers. I commend the Senators on both sides of the House for making this request in a measured and balanced way. We must remember that people can easily put a foot wrong. The Minister of State made what seems to be a most extraordinary series of charges and we are entitled to investigate what lies behind them.

If, as it appears, one fifth of children are suffering from some kind of psychiatric difficulty, it raises an important question about the nature of our society. Was this always the case or has something changed in that such a significant proportion of children are deemed to be mentally unwell? I would like to know if this is a fact. If so, what kind of illness is involved and what is its source? Does it reflect changes in society? Is it related to the fact that in so many cases both parents have to go out to work? I simply do not know. I am not blaming parents because this is part of the economic reality with which we live. I am sure that cannot be the reason for all such cases but we need to examine what is wrong with society. There certainly seems to be some kind of malaise in it.

Members on both sides of the House have already raised these questions. I have posed questions about autistic children, whose brave and gallant parents care for them, as well as the virtual absence of speech therapists. It takes some time to train such therapists. There is also the question of psychologists and, as Senator O'Toole said, there are 50 to 100 of them waiting for appointments. On the radio today, it was said that a 1% drop in the top rate of tax was a possibility in tomorrow's budget and that it would cost €280 million. That sum would be much better spent by immediately employing trained psychologists.

I also wish to raise a matter which I have consistently raised here. It concerns the rendition flights through Shannon Airport. It is disgraceful that Independent Newspapers once again did not find itself able to tell the truth about this. A headline in the Irish Independent, concerning the report of the European Parliament's committee on this matter, stated "US torture flights never landed at our airports". That is a deliberate and specific lie, because they did land here. We know they did. We have the flight patterns, log data and names of many of the people involved. It has been expertly stated that a number of CIA personnel went through this country on false Irish passports. That certainly is a crime and demands an investigation. I ask the Leader to take up this matter with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and obtain further information on it.

I compliment the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, on a wonderful concert by the cross-Border orchestra in Dublin Castle last week. It was such a hopeful sign that people from both sides of the Border became involved in this event. There were even some Lambeg drums and Uillinn pipes. I have always loved those pipes but I did not know their origins. It was informative to discover that they came here as a result of Presbyterian ministers — who could not afford organs for their churches — importing this adaptation of the Scottish bagpipes. Uillinn pipes are a quintessential Irish instrument but, given their origins, they make a wonderful symbol of the potential for cultural unity that is now within our grasp.