Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

Ba mhaith liom aontú leis an tSeanadóir Ó Murchú maidir le úsáid na Gaeilge sa Teach. Ba chóir dúinn Gaeilge a úsáid i ndíospóireachtaí agus tá dualgas ar na meáin chumarsáide é a phiocadh suas agus a fhoilsiú. Aontaím go mór le sin. Molaim do mo chairde go léir anseo an Ghaeilge a úsáid go rialta, agus gach seachtain más féidir linn.

My colleague, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, proposed at the outset that we have a debate on the economy. I recommend to the Leader and the Members that in that debate we focus on what measures will be used as retrenchment for the way the economic boom has been wasted. In an effort to retrench the public finances, the focus is being put on reneging on the commitment to class size reduction, on placing an embargo on the creation of new home help positions and on the summer works scheme in schools. These are areas of real need. The emphasis should be on the plethora of Government advisers and on the wasteful expenditure on a number of projects.

I recommend to the Leader that an audit be done Department by Department to see where there is wasteful expenditure in terms of administration, wasteful advisers, silly decisions and projects such as PPARS which are more fitting to Alice in Wonderland. We should focus on these rather than on leaving our children in large classes and our elderly without home help. I recommend that the thrust and focus of the debate be on how retrenchment can take place without it being at the expense of the weak and vulnerable in society.

I second the call by Senator Keaveney for a debate on alcohol abuse. The issue is that because of low-cost selling of alcohol in supermarkets, drinking has retreated away from the public gaze into private houses and alleyways. People are not going out in public to drink socially anymore and therein lies the problem. This House needs to address how we stop people buying trolleys full of alcohol below cost price and taking them to unsupervised locations to drink. We need to address the matter in those terms.