Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Senator Darragh O'Brien and many others referred to the negotiations by EU leaders. We welcome the fact that everybody wishes the Taoiseach well in these. I have full confidence in his ability to achieve the best possible outcome for this country. That is what everybody in this House wishes for.

I hope to have the Minister for Finance in the House to discuss the capital programme. He was here the day before yesterday and has indicated he is willing to come here early in the new session. We can certainly have a debate on financial matters then. It would be an ideal time to have the Minister in the House to discuss the capital programme and the upcoming budget.

I do not intend to address the matters raised by Senator Bacik and several others because we will deal with them at a meeting of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges.

Senator Mullen and several others called for a debate on the Cloyne report. My office has been in contact with the relevant Ministers with a view to having a debate thereon next week. The Minister for Justice and Equality will attend the House for approximately ten hours next week because two criminal justice Bills are on the agenda. We have quite an amount of legislation to deal with next week. I will try to have a debate on the matter. I will also take into consideration Senator O'Keeffe's comment that we could have a more considered approach after more time has gone by. I will see what can be done for next week.

I welcome the Senator Mullen's remarks on the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, coming back to him. Senator Wilson made similar comments yesterday regarding the Minister of State, Deputy Penrose. This is about Ministers responding to issues raised in the House and this is how it should be. I hope it will continue with regard to all Ministers who come before the House.

Senator Kelly spoke about the petitions committee which was advocated by Deputy Tuffy when she was a Member of this House and we are now activating it. I hope it will serve the House well.

Senators Leyden, Ó Clochartaigh and others asked when the children's referendum will take place. It is a very important referendum and it is important that the wording is correct. I will see what the updated position is and report back to the Seanad next week.

I agree with what Senator Barrett stated on the need to licence lobbyists. The lobbying system that exists certainly undermines parliamentary democracy and I will raise the issue with the relevant Minister.

Senators Cullinane, Coghlan, Mac Conghail, Ó Clochartaigh and others raised yesterday's question and answer session with the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Coveney. I agree it was an excellent exchange of views between Members and the Minister. It was refreshing and we should consider doing our business in this way on occasion. It is regrettable that the media did not give it the coverage I felt it deserved. It was our first effort and there is a need to tweak the format a little. Some people spoke on three or four occasions and others struggled to speak on one occasion. However, the concept worked quite well.

In recent weeks, Senators have called for a debate on the arts. The Minister for the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Deenihan, will come before the House next week for a debate on the arts and heritage. We could have a similar question and answer session with him during the two hour period we have tabled for discussing the arts next week. I will discuss it with him.

Senator White spoke about Superquinn, which was also raised by Senator Phelan yesterday and today. Senator Quinn clarified the situation with regard to cheques and we certainly accept his bona fides on this matter. However, I am sure he would agree it is little consolation to the suppliers and producers who are owed quite a large amount of money. It risks putting a number of them out of business. I do not know whether bringing the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, before the House would solve the matter but we will try to bring him before the House if not next week then early in the next session.

Senator Quinn also spoke about his experience in Tallinn in Estonia. He is quite right that sorting out the economy is in our hands. We certainly need help from our colleagues in Europe but most of dealing with it is in our hands and I am confident we can rise to the challenges we face.

I thank Senator Mac Conghail for his kind remarks on how we do our business. I hope this will continue. The question of having Private Members' time earlier in the day, perhaps after the Order of business, is something the CPP will discuss. This has been raised previously and we will examine the possibility.

Senator MacSharry spoke about doctors and Senator Crown raised the same issue yesterday. Quite a number of requests have been made for a various people to come before the House. I hope our discussions in the CPP will lead us to being able to invite at least two people to address the House during the next session.

I have alluded to Senator Mooney's comments on the media. If yesterday's exchange of views in the question and answer session had taken place in the other House, it would have received far more coverage than it did. Senator O'Keeffe also spoke about yesterday's format. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, expressed his happiness at the format and he is quite willing to participate in such a debate again. I take on board what Senator Ó Clochartaigh stated on fisheries. We probably could have done with a little more time than the two and half hours which was provided for the debate on agriculture and fisheries but we can have another debate on it. It was very productive and the information from the Minister as a result of the excellent questions posed to him were newsworthy and should have received more support from the media in this regard.

I propose we meet next Tuesday and Wednesday only, but we will be very busy on these days and we will sit late. Along with the two criminal justice Bills I mentioned earlier we will also deal with environmental legislation. We will also have a debate on the arts. If necessary, we will meet on a third day.