David Norris (Independent)

I spoke twice yesterday on the economy and put on the record a heart-rending letter from a woman who is experiencing the impossibility of meeting her very basic commitments to her family. I am not going to read the letter into the Order of Business again, but we have to realise that one simply cannot get blood out of a stone. We have all got to take whatever cuts we can, I would tell the Government, but they can only be the cuts we can take. I believe in the old socialist maxim, "From each, according to his ability, to each according to his need". However, one can only take it from the people who have it to give, and for that reason I believe every measure should have a means test of some type applied to it to determine whether it is possible for people to pay up without damaging their families or their health, welfare and education.

That is vitally necessary and in this context I know the bank executives who won a court case and got €40 million in bonuses were legally justified in their action, but I wonder about the morality of it. I wonder whether they realise quite how provocative it was in the light of the degree of suffering going on in the country, and given the general view that it is the executives of the banks who were very largely culpable for the crisis.

I want to raise another matter that relates to our near kin, horses. Ireland is supposed to be a horse loving country. An extraordinary situation has developed, however, in terms of the very large numbers of abandoned and stray horses around the countryside. These poor wonderful animals have no capacity to fend for themselves, because their nature, apparently, is just to stand in a field. They will not jump over a hedge and look for food. Often they are spancelled, tied and tortured. We need to investigate the operation of the Smithfield market which, although it has a long tradition in this city, is being radically changed. It is now becoming a funnel for horses to be sold very cheaply to unsuitable purchasers.

I would like a discussion on this important matter of animal welfare, whether the legislation is appropriate and if there is enough of it and what we can do in negotiation with the farming community and others, along with the horse breeding industry, to tackle this very regrettable situation.