Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

I concur with the Senators who called for a debate on the national development plan. I am particularly interested in hearing what the Minister for Transport has to say on the western rail corridor, which is probably the most viable and cost effective project in the national development plan.

I support the calls for a debate on carers. As the father of a child with disabilities, I think it is important we avoid acting in a knee-jerk manner. I am sick of the business of allowing the latest crisis to determine where money is going to be spent. We have to consider care in a holistic sense and it is important that services such as early intervention do not suffer because somebody decides there is a crisis and a pile of money needs to be moved to another area. We must be sensible and rational so all aspects of caring are considered equally and that we provide the best possible services to children and other people who need care.

I wish to return to the issue of opinion polls, which I raised on previous occasions. We need a proper debate on opinion polls and legislation around them. An opinion poll recently published in my constituency turned out to be a hoax. It was published on the front page of a local newspaper as if it was factual. The organisation purported to have carried out the opinion poll turned out not to have done so. Bogus opinion polls and polls conducted in a fashion that is not up to scratch can affect public opinion and need to be debated. I believe we need to introduce legislation in this area.