Ivana Bacik (Independent)

That is the real worry and that is why people are so angry about these revelations. We need to have a debate about this and about the real story on the fateful night when the blanket bank guarantee was agreed. This has had a large part to play in our economic crisis.

I call on the Leader to arrange a debate on the role of religion within the State in the context of a debate on constitutional change. Senator Leyden mentioned Labour's proposals for a convention on constitutional change, which is long overdue. It is time we reviewed the Constitution to see what is no longer relevant to the needs of a modern, pluralist republic. Such a debate in this House would be appropriate in spite of the short time we may have available to us and it would be appropriate to have a debate on religion in public life.

We need look no further than the dreadful situation in Pakistan, where we have seen the offence of blasphemy used to persecute an unfortunate, semi-literate woman and mother from an impoverished village. She has been prosecuted for blasphemy and the prosecution has already led to the assassination of a senior Pakistani politician. We are seeing considerable political unrest as a result of the presence in their law of the offence of blasphemy, designed so broadly that it can be used in a political way.

Similarly, we need a debate on the presence here of the offence of blasphemy that the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, insisted on pushing through this House and the other House on foot, he suggested, of a constitutional imperative. We must examine the constitutional provision on blasphemy and ask whether an offence of blasphemy is relevant or necessary in a modern republic.

I echo the words of Senator Alex White in paying tribute to Joss Lynam, the mountaineer and pioneer who continued to be so active long after ill-health and old age and who brought many people to a more active lifestyle. Also, I pay tribute to another person and party colleague who died over the Christmas break, Dr. David Nolan, the former medical correspondent of The Irish Times.