Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I ask the Leader for a further debate on prison conditions. We had an excellent debate on this House on foot of requests from myself and Senator Cummins on prison overcrowding. Unfortunately, there is another damning report, this time from the prison chaplains, about conditions in our prisons. It emphasises to us the need to keep this under constant review and to keep putting a spotlight on it because the conditions in the prisons remain appalling and inhumane.

I want to alert Members to the fact that I will be facilitating a seminar tomorrow with the Irish Penal Reform Trust in Room A of LH2000 at 12 o'clock. We are looking at penal reform in the context of the budget and how we can both save money and develop a more progressive penal policy with less reliance on prison.

I also ask the Leader for a debate on the Student Support Bill 2008 or for clarification as to when the Bill is likely to come before the Houses. This is a Bill on which there is consensus towards which the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, has been working, and many have been looking for it to be passed. Senator Prendergast has rightly pointed out that the Government is well past its sell-by date but there are a small amount of legislation, such as the climate change Bill and the Student Support Bill 2008, on which there is consensus and there would be support, and which need to be brought before this House as a matter of urgency. I ask the Leader for a timeframe on that.

Finally, I am sure all Members of the House would like to join me in expressing great sadness at the report that an elderly individual died as a result of hyperthermia in north Cork, having slipped in a field on going out to check on his cattle. It highlights the serious problems people face all around the country as a result of the bad weather conditions.