Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I support the proposal put by Senator Fitzgerald and seconded by Senator Alex White for a full debate on the undocumented Irish. These people are experiencing significant hardships and we have a humane duty to help them. They have difficulties in terms of returning home for family funerals and organising their lives in the US. It was wrong of the Taoiseach to disregard the decision of the Oireachtas to seek a bilateral agreement. It is clear that immigration legislation is on ice in America and will not be progressed prior to the presidential elections. We should have used our good offices and the goodwill that exists towards us in America to reach a bilateral agreement. The Taoiseach has failed by not pursuing that option and his remarks only compounded the problem.

I am anxious for the Leader to respond to the question of what we are going to do about the wasted economic boom in this country. Cutbacks in current expenditure clearly will be necessary. This House should hold a debate on the form these cutbacks will take. They should be directed at eliminating the plethora of departmental advisers because every Government has employed too many advisers and consultants. We have a native Civil Service of excellent calibre and with a high level of education, given that many of them had to obtain first class honours degrees to be appointed. It is a travesty, therefore, that we are hiring costly expertise rather than using civil servants as a resource. We are wasting public moneys on this while denying home help to old people and underfunding frontline health services. That is a critical debate. I appeal to the Leader to consider having a debate where we focus on that issue and no other, and where we examine the question of where we can affect change in these areas and where we can get rid of the real waste.

In the context of the Lisbon treaty, I support the call by Senator Leyden for clarification of the both the nature of the debate at the Council of Europe and the role of the Council in contextualising the abortion debate. I hope the media picks up on the fact this is not an EU debate and is a minority debate within the Council of Europe, which is an important point. I support Senator Leyden in this regard. Given the importance of getting the Lisbon treaty through, we would want this emphasised day by day.