Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

Against the odds, the people are doing their best to get themselves out of the recession. The first public sector unions to vote have voted in favour of the Croke Park deal. I hope today IMPACT will stop its industrial action in the HSE. I ask the Leader for a debate soon on the Croke Park deal in order that we can express our views on the issue. I also ask that we continue to hold debates on the economy as events unfold; as we know, they are changing rapidly.

I ask the Leader for an urgent debate on the prison system. Our prisons are not full of drug dealers and gangland criminals but full of people who do not pay small fines. They are chock-a-block with non-nationals awaiting deportation from the country because the deportation system is moving too slowly. We must hold a debate on the people whom we incarcerate because there must be another option other than jailing the majority in the way we do.