Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

The people of Ireland have a proud tradition of upholding family values. That tradition should never be lost. I will allocate as much time as is necessary to allow all Members to make their views strongly known to the Minister with regard to what is acceptable to people in the context of upholding family values and catering for the needs of future generations.

I have no difficulty agreeing to Senator Donohoe's request. I know he has quite an amount of experience regarding matters, such as the requirements involved and the unfortunate conditions in which some people have been obliged to live up to now, relating to the private rented sector. I fully agree with the sentiments expressed by the Senator and I have no difficulty in arranging for the Minister to come before the House to discuss his proposals.

Senator O'Reilly requested a debate on inflation and matters relating to it. He referred to those of us who live on the Border with Ulster. I previously served as Chairman of the then Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. In that context, I understand that the purchasing power of the multiples for the UK also covers Northern Ireland. The UK market, which encompasses 64 million or 65 million people, has much greater purchasing power than that which obtains in Ireland, to which the majority of products must be imported by air or sea and which has a population of only 4.5 million. This was outlined in some detail to the committee to which I refer when it carried out its review of the groceries order. Senator Coghlan was a member of that committee and made a great contribution to its work. The reason to which I refer may indicate why there is a small difference as regards prices.