Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

Senators O'Toole, Alex White, Coghlan, Norris, Cummins, Buttimer, Ross, Donohoe, Bacik, Doherty and Daly all called for No. 27, motion 7 to be debated today. Owing to the untimely death of our colleague, Senator Tony Kett, this item was not debated during Fine Gael Private Members' time yesterday evening. I have already arranged with Senator Frances Fitzgerald, leader of the Fine Gael group in the House, that it will be debated during Fine Gael Private Members' time next Wednesday evening. If it is felt necessary to give three hours to this topic I am prepared to propose that on the Order of Business next Wednesday. Private Members' time can be extended to three hours to allow all Members to make their views known on this very important and urgent issue.

We will review weekly the difficulties being experienced in banking. No one in the world has an answer to these difficulties. Everyone is doing their level best to rejuvenate the world's economies. Yesterday, we saw the British Chancellor of the Exchequer bring in his budget and we have seen the huge efforts being made by the new President of the United States, Barack Obama, to rejuvenate the US economy. Because Ireland is a small open economy, we were hardest hit by the downturn. I hope we will be one of the first to recover when the upturn arrives. Within months of the American economy recovering we will return to economic growth.

Senator Fitzgerald called for a debate on A Vision for Change, the report of the expert group on mental health, and wider issues pertaining to the Health Service Executive, HSE. I have no difficulty in allocating time for this and I hope the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, will attend the House for that debate.

Senators O'Toole, Hannigan, Quinn and Butler called for a debate on energy, which is timely. I can accede to this request, especially as Senators have pointed out the importance of this topic. I listened attentively to Senator Larry Butler and other Senators speaking about the proposed Mulcahy report on wave power and the challenges facing Ireland in this area. These challenges could be turned into an opportunity and give Ireland an income for many years.

Senators Alex White and Mary White congratulated the Minister for Finance on the child care initiative announced in the budget. I join them in their congratulations.