Ivana Bacik (Independent)

All of us join Senator O'Brien in expressing sympathy in regard to that latest appalling shooting. Last night there was a debate in this House on the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009 with the Minister for Justice and Equality, and Members aired their concerns about the effectiveness of current legislative measures. The Minister helpfully indicated that he would conduct a review of the organised crime provisions in the Act, which I welcome as it is very important.

I refer to the announcement today that the Government plans to impose losses on senior bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society, which we all very much welcome. Given that the anniversary of the first hundred days is being marked, we must note that this important issue needs to be addressed, as does that of interest rate cuts. I point out to Senator O'Brien that nothing has been finalised in that regard. It is a matter of great regret to all of us that more progress has not been made in achieving an interest rate cut but we hope negotiations are ongoing.

Today we will debate the Finance (No. 2) Bill which will bring about the jobs initiative and funding thereof, which is probably the most important achievement of the first 100 days.

I also welcome the announcement that the Government will respond today to the Council of Europe with an action plan on how it proposes to deal with the ABC case and its implications. As others did, I ask for a debate on this issue. It might be appropriate to have such a debate when the expert group, planned by the Government, has reported although I would be happy to have a debate before then to inform the work of the expert group. That debate may or may not happen but we will certainly need a debate when the expert group has reported. I very much hope that group will have a tight timeframe within which to prepare a report on the implications of the ABC case. For far too long this Legislature, the Oireachtas, has failed to grasp the nettle of the abortion issue and it is time we did so. The expert group is an important part of the strategy but we also need debates in the Seanad, preferably early ones, with others to follow when the expert group has reported.

Will the Leader arrange a debate on a case that has slipped somewhat under the radar? This case was taken by an Irish lawyer, Mr. Ciarán Toland, who on 7 June won a victory in the Court of the European Union, that is the general court, not the European Court of Human Rights. He sought access to a report known as the Galvin report, on the operation of the parliamentary assistants' allowance in the European Parliament. This report was widely leaked on the Internet in 2009 but has been withheld by the Parliament. Mr. Toland achieved a victory, with the court stating that the Parliament could not objectively justify withholding the report. This is an important judgment that will have far-reaching consequences for improving accountability and transparency in the rights of EU citizens to access reports of European institutions. We might well consider the report in this House, especially given the debate we had yesterday on the usefulness of this House in dealing with EU matters. A final point of note is that a former Senator, Eugene Regan, represented Mr. Toland in the EU court.