James Carroll (Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Seanad Éireann" and substitute the following:

"recognises

the high esteem in which the Office of the Ombudsman and the work it does is held;

notes

the publication by the Ombudsman of a Special Report on the Lost at Sea Scheme;

the forensic and painstaking manner in which the report was compiled;

the Ombudsman's request that the Houses of the Oireachtas consider her report and take whatever action they deem appropriate;

the Ombudsman's acknowledgement that the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is free in law to reject the Ombudsman's recommendation;

that the report has been debated by both Dáil and Seanad Éireann.

Acknowledges:

that it is a matter for the Houses of the Oireachtas and their respective committees to order their own business, and

that the further consideration of the Ombudsman's Special Report by any Oireachtas committee is a matter for that Committee.".

This is my first opportunity to speak to the new Minister of State and I wish him the best of luck in his new role. I made my first speech as Government spokesman on fisheries while the then Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, was in attendance. In that speech I told him I was looking forward to working with him until June 2012. That will now be in his defence role. I look forward to working with the new Minister of State until-----