Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I support the call for an urgent debate on the economy and how we fit in with what is happening around the rest of the world. As a business person myself I hear very little talk in Ireland about the strength of the euro. Senator Ross spoke about the multinationals but I refer to indigenous companies that still mainly depend on the UK market and how torturous it is dealing with sterling. I am amazed that the cost to companies does not figure on the radar at all.

Last November I called for a debate on the Government report on Irish prisoners abroad commissioned by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern. Last Saturday in his St. Patrick's Day message, Bishop Seamus Hegarty of Derry, chairman of the bishops' commission on emigration said he was very disappointed that to date the Government has not implemented its own report carried out for the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, by Mr. Chris Flood.

There are at least 1,000 Irish people in prisons around the world, many of them in the most dire circumstances. One of Mr. Flood's proposals was that a register of prisoners would be kept. He proposed that the Department of Foreign Affairs, which employs 1,500 people, would assign three or four members of staff to work on the issue of Irish prisoners abroad. This would involve drawing up a register of prisoners and to ensure that the prisoners would get at least one visit a year. A second issue relates to the torture on the families and the separation of families from loved ones who are in prison. We do not make a judgment on why people are in prison. This is a humanitarian issue.

On Saturday Bishop Hegarty pleaded with the Government to implement its report. Irish people are in prison in places like Uruguay and Panama where we dare not even talk about the terrible conditions they are in. I agree we should talk about macro issues, not the details of the local constituency. I request that we have a debate, the purpose of which would be that the Government would implement its own report, set up a division in the Department of Foreign Affairs consisting of three to four people to look after the 1,000 people who are in prison abroad and to help their families who suffer at home.