Feargal Quinn (Independent)

Veronica Guerin's death created such an outcry some years ago that we changed the laws to fight organised crime. We did something we had not been willing to do prior to that. I believe the death of Shane Geoghegan will achieve something similar.

Senators Twomey and O'Toole talked about positive proposals. I learned only yesterday about one such possibility. When suspects are being questioned by the Garda, they are told that anything they say may be taken down and used in evidence. That is traditional. Recently, the courts have taken the viewpoint that this warning must be written down in respect of each question and each answer. Therefore, when the Garda question a suspect, they must write down each question and answer before following with the next. This is the case although all interviews are recorded on video and sound. It seems outrageous that the momentum in the interrogation of a suspect is lost and I have difficulty in understanding why the courts have taken this viewpoint. I understand from the Garda that this is the only country that has taken this stance, namely, that because the words "will be taken down and used in evidence" are used, each step must be written down before the next question is asked. The Garda must be frustrated at their inability to question, query and interrogate very prime suspects and that is one simple situation the Minister should look at immediately and examine what action we must take.

The situation regarding the President of the Czech Republic has been raised today. I got to know Václav Klaus eight years ago, after he was Prime Minister and before he became President. He had very strong views then about the type of Europe he wanted to see and he disagreed with me. I remember the terms he used. He said to me: "I had 40 years of a big brother in Moscow and I do not want to substitute a big brother in Brussels for that big brother in Moscow." I can understand the viewpoint he had. However, when we invite the President of a country, in this case a non-executive President like our own, I am surprised we do not make it clear that if an invitee has views he or she intends to express strongly, accordingly we must take the opportunity to present a balance of views. The Government should have made this clear. I know the man reasonably well and even if that had been made clear to him I believe he would still have gone ahead and said what he did, involving the Lisbon treaty opposition to that extent. There was no balance in the viewpoint expressed. I can understand his views, the strength of them and the reason he makes them but we must get a balance here. There is a lot at stake and we cannot have a non-executive Head of State coming to this country and using such an opportunity without providing balance.

I can understand the President's views. Members may have read in the papers today that the European Commission has changed its view on vegetables. This is important because there was a lack of understanding of the marketplace. The views expressed before now and the regulations introduced prior to this ordained that all vegetables on sale in supermarkets, shops and markets had to be of a certain size, grading and standard. Clearly, the marketplace was not understood. If people want to buy a straight carrot or cucumber they can do so but they should also be able to take the wobbly or cranky one or the one with nodules on it at a different price. I am delighted that the Commissioner reduced, if not entirely abolished, those rules yesterday and stated the marketplace can make those decisions. Those are the kind of rules that cause people such as Václav Klaus and others to say that perhaps too much strength goes to a centralised Europe. Let us make sure we have logic, sense and balance in any regulations we introduce in the future.