Dan Boyle (Green Party)

Senators Fitzgerald, O'Toole, Norris, Coghlan, Cummins and Quinn spoke about the quality of Seanad business. There has been a slow response in receiving legislation from the Dáil. The current situation is that there are two Bills before us on Committee Stage, the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008, which will return next week, and the Harbours (Amendment) Bill 2008, which is ongoing.

The Dáil has completed all Stages of the Charities Bill 2007, which will come to this House, and is dealing with Final Stages of the Electoral (Amendment) Bill and the Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Mines Bill 2008, which will come before this House in the next two or three weeks. In addition, we will have the standard legislation that follows the budget, the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008 and the Finance Bill 2008. With that programme of activity in legislation, Senators will not have much about which to complain until the end of this session. There are at least half a dozen Bills we must parse and analyse and to which we must respond.

The statements with which we have been dealing this week and last arose from requests in the House. One thing that can be said about Standing Orders in this House is that they are more responsive than Standing Orders in the other House. It is not only the tolerance of the Chair that allows Members of this House to raise issues of the day in ways they cannot be raised in other Chambers. Senators make good use of that facility.

A debate has been requested on gangland crime. We had a very good debate yesterday on the annual report of the Criminal Assets Bureau. While it only indirectly involved this area, contributions from the Minister and many Members referred to the general situation, in particular the appalling murder of Shane Geoghegan and the need for a particular response. This was on the record and responded to yesterday. However, I hear what Senators are saying about the need for a more wide-ranging debate and their hope that this can be provided as soon as possible. Their request for immediacy has been heard and, hopefully, this debate can be accommodated next week.

The other issue in terms of the Business of the Seanad — it helps that many Members have expressed their dissatisfaction in this regard — is the need for the House to make clear to those organising the Government's business the requirement to initiate more legislation in the House. We initiated some Bills in the most recent session, but there is a capacity to initiate far more. The message from today's proceedings will be made known to relevant Ministers to ensure such Bills come before the House.

With regard to the call for a debate on the cervical cancer vaccine programme, the debate during Private Members' Time in the other House was a last-minute change from the motion on agriculture debated in this House. I am unsure why the Opposition party in the Dáil decided to have a debate on cervical cancer in that House, but did not choose to do so here. The last-minute change was the facility whereby the Dáil discussed the issue yesterday. If the issue were to be discussed here, that was a missed opportunity.