Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

A real debate is required and two days or a full week should be set aside in this regard. If Members feel sufficiently passionate about the Irish language, the House could meet on a Monday or a Friday. I am a fluent Irish speaker, as are many others in this Chamber. However, little Irish is spoken here and when it is spoken, no one uses the translation system. There is a pressure in this regard. Although many Members wish to make their contributions in their native language, people do not listen to the English version, which is not right.

There must be a proper debate on how we can support the Irish language in this chamber. There are serious questions about education. Senator Cannon is right about this. The reality is that the Minister and the Department of Education and Science are now ending a practice that is successful and has been so for decades. That is the early Irish language immersion in our Gaelscoileanna. It is ridiculous that this is happening. The previous Minister, Deputy Hanafin, was trying to fix something that was not broken. It is an attack on the Gaelscoileanna which are outside the Gaeltacht. Students coming out of them have excellent Irish language abilities. I cannot fathom this approach. We need a real debate and I hope the Leader will take this on board.

Yesterday a number of Senators said that there was no connection between the WTO and the Lisbon treaty. That is nonsense. Anybody who saw "Questions and Answers" last Monday saw the nonsense that Fine Gael and the Government are peddling on this issue. Both spokespersons talked about a veto. When challenged by Sinn Féin and another member of the panel they said that no international trade agreements are by qualified majority voting. They are repeatedly changing their tune. The reality is that Article 188 takes international trade agreements away from the principle of unanimity and into the area of qualified majority voting. The Trade Commissioner, Mr. Peter Mandelson, has a mandate from the Commission to enter into the negotiations but the outcome of these must be agreed by the Council of Ministers after the Lisbon treaty is ratified. After Lisbon, that veto is removed.