Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I wish to raise the issue of road safety and the manner in which the Minister for Transport botched the announcement and made a pig's ear of the matter. He reduced a significant issue to a swirl of confusion. This is the Minister who is responsible for the Shannon-Heathrow slots, who introduced electronic voting and has now made a mess of the road safety strategy. He has panicked and confused 122,000 provisional licence holders. It is important to debate the matter in the House and also the manner in which it was handled.

I add my voice to that of Senator White in the call for a debate on child care. The Senator was a shining example in this area in the previous Seanad. It is important that we debate the issue of funding for child care and the inspection report on crèches, reports of which are carried in this morning's newspapers.

I support Senator Norris in the point he raised about the Civil Unions Bill being introduced in the Dáil by my party today. This is important legislation. We live in a progressive Ireland. It requires sensible and measured debate by all sides. I hope those who supported the principles of the Bill when they were in Opposition will support it now they are in Government.