Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I join Senator Healy Eames in urging the Leader to continue our debate on the Ryan report before the summer recess. As Senator O'Toole said, it is not good enough to park the debate now that the report has been published, and for the President, Mary McAleese, to make an apology and meet with the victims as she did last weekend. As the Second House of the Oireachtas we need to keep this debate going so we can keep the issue of the impact on victims alive and make changes to ensure this never happens again.

Like Senators Hannigan and Norris I welcome the publication of the Civil Partnership Bill. I pay tribute to Senator Norris for his fearless campaigning. When will it come before the House? I regret that we have not taken the opportunity to protect and enshrine the rights of children and it is important that we do so.

This morning, we received a very important information leaflet from the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers Advisory Committee which identified that €387 million of revenue lost to the State as duty is not paid on one in five cigarettes consumed. That is a savage amount that is being denied to the State. It is done through the illegal activity of criminals who have no interest in the State. I ask the Leader for a debate on the importation and smuggling of cigarettes and on the role of Revenue.

Will the Leader bring Mr. McCarthy, the chairman of an bord snip nua, before the House to debate with him the remit of his committee and what it proposes? Unlike Senator Harris, I worry that we are demonising public servants in this House and in the debate throughout the media. We should avoid pitting private sector against public sector. Many thousands of good public servants do great work. Senator Harris is correct that it is not their fault benchmarking was introduced. We should stop demonising public servants. They do a valuable job for our country and perform a great service, and we should not be derogatory towards them in any way. What we should be derogatory towards is the fact that the Government awarded them benchmarking in the first place; that is where the mistake was made.