Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh Deasún Mac an Easpaig atá anseo linn inniu. I congratulate Senator Mark Daly on asking Mr. Des Bishop to meet Members of the Oireachtas who are attending Irish classes and trying to improve their fluency. The initiative Mr. Bishop has undertaken has been great and it will be very encouraging to many who would like to improve their fluency. Having spent so many years in the classroom, we are all disappointed that we do not have the fluency we desire. I hope Mr. Bishop's going to live in the Gaeltacht and developing fluency will be of great encouragement to a new generation in becoming fluent. I am sure Senator Ó Murchú, who has done so much in this area, will join me in saying this.

I want to discuss aid for Burma and the circumstances in that country. The French foreign minister called on the world yesterday to deliver aid without the agreement of the junta leaders who are proving very resistant to the sending of aid to Burma. We await an all-party motion on Burma in the House. Perhaps the Leader will clarify the position of the Irish Government on Burma. I hope we will be able to use our credibility at European level. We have such credibility because of the amount of money we donate in aid. I hope our Minister for Foreign Affairs can intercede or do some work on this issue to ensure aid is received by the people who need it most. Perhaps the new Minister of State responsible for overseas aid, Deputy Peter Power, can come to the House to discuss this early next week when we are considering the motion on Burma, which I hope will be agreed by every Member of the House.

Yet again, a very small number of women — two out of 20 — have been appointed as Ministers of State. This is a stark reflection of the small number of women in the Oireachtas overall. We have one of the smallest numbers in Europe. Even on a worldwide scale, our figure of 13% is very low. It behoves all political parties in the run-up to the local and European elections to take positive action on the issue of gender in politics because there is such an imbalance.

Another aspect of the appointments requires clarification by the Leader. Why has the portfolio of arts been given to a Minister of State? Reports state that the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism will now deal with sport and tourism while the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh, will be responsible for the Office of Public Works and arts. The arts community will be very concerned about this development and it needs clarification in the days to come. Has responsibility been given totally to a Minister of State, as has been reported, or will the Minister still have some function in this area?