Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I support Senator O'Brien's call for a cross-party motion in the House on Palestine. It would be a suitable topic for a cross-party motion; the Labour Party would fully support it. The idea first mooted by Senator Quinn is good and this is a good week to do it, given the visit this week of Dr. Sha'ath.

We all might predict the type of questions we will ask Mr. Buzek, the President of the European Parliament. Senator O'Brien has already alluded to that. It is an auspicious day with the positive announcement on interest rates but it is worrying that this appears to have been precipitated by the news from Italy and concerns about that country's debt levels. Some of us might frame our questions in the context of what will happen in the eurozone generally.

I again ask the Leader to arrange a debate on media ethics. Since last week, when I and others raised the issue of the News of the World, matters have moved swiftly. I doubt that any of us expected or anticipated the announcement that the News of the World would close. Many honest journalists lost their jobs as a result. It appears to have been a rather cynical move by Mr. Rupert Murdoch to try to save his bid for the takeover of BSkyB, which now appears unlikely to be successful. It has become a full-blown political scandal in Britain and has serious implications for the British Government. In Ireland, there is a need to debate media ethics to try to forestall any news that these underhand and illegal tactics have spread to Irish newspapers. News International has a big hold on the Irish newspaper market with both The Sun and the The Sunday Times. News of the despicable and illegal attempts to get material on Mr. Gordon Brown and his family should be a warning for us to ensure that these tactics are not used in Ireland. I hope we can have a debate on this issue.

I seek a debate on the future of universities. In that context, I congratulate Trinity College which has been named among the leading universities in the world in the latest QS world university rankings. Social sciences feature in the top 100 for each of the listed disciplines. I confess a certain self interest in this regard given that the law school in Trinity College is in the top 100. Trinity College is also the only Irish university to make it into the top 50 for sociology, politics and international studies. That is a remarkable achievement in view of the level of cutbacks the third level sector has faced in recent times. A debate early in the next session on the future of the university sector would be very useful.