Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I have a couple of questions for the Leader. Given my nice colour from the good weather in Donegal, I want again to ask about the co-ordination of marine activities. Because of the good weather in the past couple of weeks we have had jet skiing, fishing, swimming, yachting and various other activities in the same patch of water, which is quite dangerous. Some of those activities come under the remit of the county council and others come under the remit of various Ministers, such as the Minister for the Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, the Minister of State with responsibility for fisheries and forestry, Deputy Tony Killeen, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Brendan Smith, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, and perhaps one other Minister. It is vital that all activity to do with the water should be brought under the remit of one Department. The Leader might bring this to the attention of the Taoiseach, as it might be his responsibility to examine this issue.

Perhaps the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, might be invited to address the Seanad, since he announced today that €61 million would be made available under the equality for women measure of the national development plan, which will actively support women. One of the four strands is to improve women's participation in decision making. We have talked often in the House about the numbers of females involved in politics. Perhaps the Minister might outline to the House details of the four strands targeted under the effective doubling of the money allocated and how it may impact on female participation in decision making at the political level.