Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I am very happy to support Senator Fitzgerald's proposal. My colleague, Senator Shane Ross, has done excellent work on the issue.

In the past three or four weeks, I have asked constantly for a debate on the economy. The House will have to vote on this from now on. The Leader promised three or four weeks ago that there would be no problem with having such a debate and that we should have one regularly. I also called for a debate on education, including the aspects of education touched on by the budget. Other issues require to be debated, including the equality structures of the State and how the measures in this regard are implemented. These issues need to be addressed. The Leader committed to doing so and I ask him to deliver in this regard.

Since I became a Member, every Government has produced legislation in reaction to some major news item of the day. A Fine Gael Government introduced legislation to criminalise people who allow their horses to wander and Fianna Fáil introduced legislation to criminalise people who take out in public certain breeds of dogs without a muzzle, all in response to newspaper articles. The closest equivalent we have had recently is the legislation on pistols and pistol shooting. People with handguns in this country must surmount a most intense set of barriers in order to be allowed obtain a pistol licence. They do not shoot animals or birds but at targets and they are reasonable, sensible and secure people. No evidence has ever been presented showing that legally held handguns have ever been used in crimes. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that legally held shotguns have been stolen regularly from their owners and used in crimes. The introduction of the legislation on handguns is simply a reactionary move. It is not fair on those who are involved in a sport that does no harm to anybody, who are absolutely secure, sensible and dependable and who take every single step to ensure they act carefully and in line with the law of the land. They are in constant contact with the security people and the Garda in this regard. I ask the Government to rethink the introduction of the legislation.