Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

I too call for a debate on the Lisbon treaty. It is important that we have a proper and timely debate on this issue. Many people are concerned with the implications of the treaty, whether it is further movement towards common defence, the fact that more taxpayers' money will be committed to the European Defence Agency and to increasing our military capabilities, or the undermining of workers' rights such as we saw in Irish Ferries. There are many other areas of concern, including the continued committal of taxpayers' money to nuclear energy. We need to have an informed debate on this. I ask that we set the date to allow an informed debate nationally.

I also echo, in the presence of the Leader, the statement I made yesterday in his absence concerning the need for a debate on the Six Counties as a matter of urgency. I mentioned yesterday that it was likely that Ian Paisley would leave office in the not-to-distant future. The announcement of this has now occurred. We now have a deadline within which the debate should be held. As part of the debate I have asked that all parties in the House support the call I have made to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges to invite the Northern Ireland First Minister and the Deputy First Minister, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, to come to the Chamber and lead the debate to mark the tenth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. I welcome the public support expressed yesterday by the leader of the Fine Gael Party, Senator Frances Fitzgerald, in this regard, but I ask other parties to provide their support also.

There has been a lot of talk about Ian Paisley's retirement in the Chamber today. I too wish him well and I am conscious of the role he has played in the last number of years in bringing Unionism to its current position in terms of power-sharing. However, I am also conscious that he has led a party that has denied civil rights to Nationalists and republicans in the Six Counties for many decades. He has been part of the problem. Many of those in his own party still remain opposed to the Good Friday Agreement. There was mention of saying "No." Sinn Féin is the largest party in support of the Good Friday Agreement and, while we say "No" to British occupation and the denial of civil rights, we support the full implementation of the Agreement.

I ask for a debate on the Irish language in our education system. There is a piece in today's Irish Independent concerning the number of students opting out of Irish as a leaving certificate subject because of learning difficulties. Of the 11,871 Irish-born pupils who received exemptions in 2006, 6,341 studied another modern European language. The TUI is suggesting that these are what is described as "designer difficulties" whereby parents are able to pay for psychological assessments for their children to allow them to opt out of Irish, although they can study Latin, French and German. There is a need for a full debate on the role of the Irish language within our education system and how best to teach it. The Union of Secondary Students of Ireland and Conradh na Gaeilge have an interesting policy proposal which suggests that the literature element should be removed from the Irish language leaving certificate course and made into an alternative subject. This should inform the debate. It is urgent that we discuss this given that there are close to 12,000 Irish pupils — as well as those from other countries, who have amounted to 10,000 over the last two years — who are opting out of taking our national language at leaving certificate level.