Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I echo calls for a debate on the future of Anglo Irish Bank, in particular. We need to discuss its future and the prospects for the orderly winding down for which the Labour Party has been calling, particularly in the light of the comments made yesterday by the bank's chief executive to the effect that the bulk of the €22 billion of taxpayers' money seems to be gone for good. He has accepted this. A debate on the issue is crucial at this time.

I renew my call to the Leader for a debate on the relationship between church and State in the light of the Catholic bishops' comments on the Civil Partnership Bill, to which Senator O'Toole referred. The bishops have displayed extraordinary arrogance in intervening in this debate, describing the Bill as unconstitutional and calling for a free vote in the Oireachtas thereon. After the publication of the Ryan and Murphy reports and all the scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church, the church no longer has the voice of moral authority in this country. It is most unfortunate that, in what should be a secular republic, we are still seeing it intervene on matters of this nature.