Rónán Mullen (Independent)

Our ranks have been depleted this morning. As Senator Twomey said, it gives none of us any pleasure to walk past people picketing as we come in to do our jobs. As I said previously, if we are to deal with the serious challenges we face, then no matter how much sympathy we feel with those who believe the measures taken are disproportionate or unfair in some respects, the answer cannot be to strike. This is a time for solidarity. As I said previously, compensatory gestures may need to be made in the future whereby the injustices in respect of the measures taken, sometimes in great haste and which are perhaps accidental are incidental, will be rectified. However, the answer must be for us all to show leadership by showing solidarity. As I said previously, striking is not the way to go.

As politicians, we must set an example and start a debate so the people realise that nobody will be exempt from the sacrifices which must be made. I have asked previously whether anybody should receive a salary which is part or completely funded from public money of more than €150,000 if the situation is as serious as people say it is. Journalists and presenters in RTE — celebrities — are paid a multiple of €150,000 despite the fact there is no obvious place for them to go. It is not completely in response to the law of the market that they are paid such excessive salaries. Everything must be looked at.

We all resent the fact that in Britain a man who oversaw a massive catastrophe in his bank will now retire on £600,000 or so per year. We need serious, fresh thinking outside the box. Major sacrifices will have to be made disproportionately at the higher level of income. However, that does not justify a single strike in the meantime given the challenges we all face.

A person in authority in the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, speaking at the colloquium held last month in Mexico City, declared that the breakdown of traditional families far from being a crisis was actually a triumph for human rights. This gentleman, Arie Hoekman, denounced the idea that high rates of divorce and out of wedlock births represent a social crisis claiming instead that they represent the triumph of human rights against patriarchy. This is the type of ideology which sets itself up against what is good for the human person for the sake of a political goal. At the same time, a new UK Government report acknowledges the problems associated with the departure from the traditional family model.

At a time of economic challenge, should we not think and work smarter not harder? Should we not try to support the family in a particular way because it is the family which will inculcate the values we need to deal with a time of crisis, values of solidarity, self-denial and so on?