Joe O'Toole (Independent)

This is Workers' Memorial Day. During the past week we read that dozens of workers had been blown to smithereens in an explosion when an oil rig platform went on fire. That was a big incident which hit international headlines, but all of us, on both sides of the House, know of other incidents, perhaps involving a farm worker, a farmer, the child of a farmer who drowned in a slurry tank or a person injured in an industrial accident who lost a limb or suffered in one way or another. Such things happen constantly. For instance, a piece of a crane may fall on a worker on a building site. Today people worldwide are being asked to reflect briefly at some stage, preferably at noon when there will be one minute's silence, on those whom they know and remember who have suffered in industrial accidents. I say this to make us conscious and aware of the issue.

I listened today to a Member of the House who, not happy enough with the mess that has been created in the profession of politics in the past three or four days during the undirected, misguided and unintelligent debate on pensions-----