Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I, too, join with colleagues on this side of the House in wishing the Taoiseach well. It reminds me of American citizens who will compete effectively and in some cases bitterly in the lead up to a presidential election but once the President is installed everybody supports the President in times of national need. I would like to think the same would be true in our time of need. It has been the convention in the European Parliament that the green jersey is worn by all members of the European Parliament, irrespective of party, where Irish interests are involved. The sentiments expressed by Senator MacSharry and others on this side of the House reflect the wholesale and unstinting support we have for the Taoiseach in this country's hour of need.

I echo what has been said on the initiative introduced by the Leader of the House yesterday. It was quite a revelation to me as one who has had the honour of being a Senator for some time. I had the privilege of sitting in the Chair for most of the exchanges between the Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food, Deputy Coveney, and Members of the House. It was a most refreshing experience not only because of the breath of knowledge and expertise the Minister brought to his brief in such a short time, particularly in an area of vital national interest, on which knowledge and experience he is to be complimented, but also because of the depth and quality of the questions put to him.

I suggest to the Leader there is a need to tweak the system introduced, bearing in mind that he will be having discussions in this regard. Perhaps there is a need to invite to the House the print media. If the debate in this House yesterday had occurred in the Dáil, it would have received widespread publicity not only because it happened, but because of the manner in which it took place and the amount of information conveyed to all Members. There has been very little coverage in the print media.

We cannot force the media to cover the proceedings of this House. Although we all compliment Mr. Jimmy Walsh from The Irish Times on continuing to reflect what we do in the House, it is past time that the Fourth Estate did not just turn up here on ceremonial occasions and did not just look at its irrelevancies rather than its depth of discussion. Perhaps the Leader will consider, through the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, inviting the editors of the print media to the House to suggest to them they have a responsibility to report to the public what occurs in the second House of Parliament.