Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

I endorse all the calls for a debate on the publication of the Cloyne report. I support the calls for it to be held after a suitable period of reflection and reading because it is important, as people have said, that if people are to contribute to the report, they would do so. We primarily think of the victims, living and deceased. It is important to remember some are deceased because of the abuse they suffered.

It is important that in the future the church complies with the law. We should introduce laws that are suitable for the protection of children. For members of the church, including myself, it is important that it listens to the voices in the wilderness in the church such as Fr. Doyle who was on television yesterday. He is a canon lawyer in the US who has consistently argued within the church on this issue. Fr. Mernagh, the walking priest, spoke very prophetically on the radio today and should be listened to by all sections of society, especially the church.

Welfare cuts were announced this week. It was a good day to bury bad news for the Minister, Deputy Burton. In light of the Cloyne report, we should not have a debate on that issue today. However, the Minister should be brought before the House next week to discuss the matter. A firm commitment given on social welfare rates but we are now told it does not apply to household benefits or the smokeless fuel allowance. I will urge my party and our spokesperson on social welfare, Senator Mooney and the leader, Senator O'Brien, to call for a full debate on this issue next week. The Minister, like other Ministers, has a tendency to blame the IMF for these decisions. I understand it had no such requirement and that would be confirmed if anyone was to question its representatives at the press conference today. We need a full debate on why and how this happened.

It is the first time ever that budget cuts were announced in June, six months before a budget, and it is the first time people have been targeted. People who benefit from household benefits are not of working age and cannot get a job or re-skill themselves. They are elderly people over 65 years of age and those in receipt of disability allowance. The cuts are not across the board, for which we were vilified. Particular individuals have been targeted as an easy touch and it is most reprehensible. It is very important that we have a full debate on the issue.

I urge members of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party to come to this House to give us an account of its meeting on hospitals. We are all trying to find out-----