Rónán Mullen (Independent)

Bhí áthas orm Seanadóirí eile a chloisteáil ag labhairt faoi aerphort na Gaillimhe agus aerphort Shligigh. The Government is being very short-sighted on this issue. The focus should not be on the number of passengers but the nature of the passengers and the importance of regional airports, Galway and Sligo in particular, to the national spatial strategy and to the cause of balanced regional investment. A senior manager with Boston Scientific visiting a plant in Galway which has several thousand workers will think in terms of travelling by plane. I think this is short-sighted and the proposal to pull the plug on the subsidy and funding to this airport is ill considered.

In congratulating students sitting the leaving certificate and leaving certificate applied examinations today, may I ask if it would be appropriate to have a debate on the school syllabus at primary and secondary level. That is the key to our ability to resolve our problems in the future. Perhaps we can discuss this at the leaders' meeting.

I have a question for the Deputy Leader. Senator Bacik received deserved plaudits last week when she brought forward on behalf of the Labour Party legislation to prohibit female genital mutilation. I was astonished to read at the weekend, however, that Senator Bacik, at a World Atheist Convention, was reported as being approving of an Irish ban on what she called male genital mutilation. MGM has a musical ring to it, but I am not sure that it is an appropriate characterisation of circumcision and whether that is what she meant. We have medical expertise in the House and we can debate in due course whether there is a medical case for such a ban, but I did not hear that in what Senator Bacik said. Has Senator Bacik considered that such a proposal could be deeply insensitive towards the Jewish and Muslim communities? Has the Senator contacted the Department of Justice and Equality to determine its view on the question and will she consider if this is an example of some equality advocates losing their sense of perspective and proportionality in the blind notion of equality?