Feargal Quinn (Independent)

Adding my voice to the relief and delight at the release of Ingrid Betancourt, I am reminded that I met Mr. Don Tidey last weekend. It is not that long ago that Mr. Tidey went through the same thing. We should remember both the young soldier and the young garda who lost their lives at his rescue.

In seeking a debate on Northern Ireland last week, which may not happen next week but which should be kept in mind, I noted how short a distance in time since we had similar problems. I am inclined to criticise those of us who do not have Northern connections of being quite partitionist in our attitudes. We give a great amount of attention to good news from this part of the world. Last night, it was announced that Seagate Technology, a company that had been in Clonmel some time ago, intends to spend £120 million in Derry to open a new factory. We do not give this even the same amount of attention. I encourage us to recognise the sense of peace in Northern Ireland, which I hope will continue, and to celebrate good news across the 32 counties.

Yesterday I raised my concern at the behaviour of one bank in Britain, which does not operate in Ireland, which targets children. When I met the banks at the Oireachtas Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, I asked to be assured that they would not target children by sending them debit cards they could use in cash machines. I received a reasonable assurance that this was not their intention in Ireland. The other good news is that there was a young man in the same bank who went to a cash machine in Britain and discovered he had a balance of £2 million. He is a 16 year old and spent it on trainers, clothing and an iPod. The interesting point is that, when questioned, he said he thought it was a government grant.