Alex White (Labour)

First, I have no difficulty saying it is wrong and unacceptable that there should be strike action in such essential public services as air traffic control. My understanding of the position, from what I read in the newspapers, is that the union has indicated it is prepared to have this matter negotiated and dealt with in the Labour Court but in response the management has said the union must concede in advance on the very issue that would be dealt with in the Labour Court. That is no way to negotiate or to make progress. This issue should go to a third party such as the Labour Court today with serious efforts being made by both sides to have the matter resolved because as Senator O'Toole pointed out, people were suspended. The notion that this was a wildcat strike with people walking off the job is wrong. We must understand that people were suspended from their positions and then others, understandably, came forward to support them.

Second, I support what my colleagues said on the NUI issue. It is extraordinary that this has come almost out of the blue. We know it was in the McCarthy report. I notice that the author of that report, Colm McCarthy, if it is the same Colm McCarthy, is blogging today and yesterday on The Irish Economy website, essentially welcoming this decision by the Government. It is interesting he should be doing that as he is entitled as a citizen to do so but there should be a debate in this House on the future of the NUI in the context of what the Government has in mind for third level education. To abolish out of the blue a body which has been in existence since 1908 seems to me to be extraordinary and should not be done in the manner in which it appears to have been done. The decision has implications, perhaps ancillary, for this institution, which I have no doubt is something in which some Members would have an interest.

Third, will the Leader arrange an early opportunity for the Minister of State with responsibility for children to come into the House for a debate to assess the position on the early childhood care and education scheme which comes into operation this month? The closing date for applications was extended until yesterday because the Minister of State was rightly concerned that people may not have been fully aware of what was available and possible. The bad weather over the Christmas period caused delays as well. That was just a one-week extension and I would be concerned, given the veritable army of public relations people who have surrounded Ministers in this Government in recent years, that there has been little information put out to the public on this new scheme, which I have welcomed in principle in regard to child care. It was in the Labour Party manifesto on the last occasion. It was not supported by the Government then but the Government has now seen fit to introduce it, and I welcome that. There are difficulties with it and there will be teething problems but it is the right scheme and I ask the Leader to arrange a debate in the House to allow us assess its operation in its early days.