David Norris (Independent)

Many Members on both sides of the House told me they were delighted I said what I did and that they would have liked to have done so but they are terrified of the press. That is what we are heading into.

I call for a debate on landmines perhaps in the context of the Middle East because 1 million landmines were dropped in Lebanon in the past 72 hours. No. 25, motion 28, on the Order Paper in the names of all my colleagues on the Independent benches seeks to outlaw landmines and it is based on a very powerful submission by Mr. Tony D'Costa of Pax Christi to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs. I am happy to withdraw that motion if the Government and the Opposition parties wish to put together a composite one.

My colleague, Senator Mooney, is very interested in this issue and attended the same meeting. I would like the Leader to consider the motion in the name of the Independent Senators to see if it is possible for the Government to put together, and pass, an all-party one. I believe the Government would be sympathetic to this.

There is a further worry that, inadvertently, public moneys may be invested in American companies engaged in manufacturing these obscene instruments of death and misery. They are not even military instruments. Mr. D'Costa told us that 98% of the casualties are civilian. That tells us one simple thing, namely, that they have no military application and that they are instruments of terror and mutilation. After a war is over, unfortunate children pick them up and are mutilated and killed. All parties should stand up against this filthy and barbarous practice.