Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I renew my call for a debate on the role of the church in education and the issue of school patronage, about which Deputy Quinn has been speaking for some time. He has called for the establishment of a national forum on patronage, which is a good idea. I called for such a debate yesterday in the context of the ongoing revelations about abuse within the church, the cover-up of abuse and Cardinal Brady's refusal to resign. I took exception to Senator Mullen's response to my comment in which he accused me of using the abuse issue as a cover for another agenda. In fact, his response is one of the reasons we need a debate because it shows that the Catholic Church and its spokespersons have not grasped that the two issues are not separate. The issue of abuse within the church and the culture of cover-up by the hierarchy which still persists and about which Archbishop Martin has spoken so bravely is one of the reasons we need to consider the ongoing control of the primary education system by the Catholic Church. At a time when 92% of State-funded national schools are under its control, we really need to have such a debate. To see the issue of abuse and a cover-up as separate from the issue of education is to miss the point entirely.

I also ask for a debate on white collar crime and the need for whistleblower protection. Deputy Rabbitte introduced a Bill in the other House, while in this House last year the Labour Party group called for whistleblower protection legislation as part of a debate on better governance. Until we have that legislation, as others have said, the Director of Public Prosecutions will not be able to mount successful prosecutions in tackling white collar crime. This should be a priority of the House.

As Senator O'Toole said, there is a great deal of urgent legislation brought forward by the Opposition with which we could be dealing, but the Government is not willing to put these Bills on the Order Paper. In that context, I ask the Leader for a debate on my own Climate Protection Bill which is long overdue. It has been before the House since October 2007. This week, starting on Friday, is biodiversity week, which would be a good time for us to debate climate protection legislation and the pressing need to introduce a binding obligation on this and future Governments to ensure cuts in carbon emissions. I ask the Leader to arrange these debates.

On the day of our debate on the issue of child protection, I congratulate Ms Siobhán Parkinson on her appointment as Laureate na nÓg, the first ever appointment of a laureate for children's literature. Having read some of her books, she is an excellent choice. This is a positive sign in terms of our regard for children's rights at a time when we are all too conscious of the flaws in our treatment of children and in our child protection laws. That is a positive note on which to begin the debate.