Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I support Senator Leyden's amendment to the Order of Business to ask the Minister for Health to come into the House. As Senator Leyden pointed out, he has only come in once so far, on an issue agreed by all parties. Members opposite have also asked for him to come into the House so we will see if they will support the call for the Minister to come before us.

I note the Deputy Leader's remarks about the Arab Spring. I hope the Labour Party and Deputy Gilmore, as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, will support the UN resolution on recognition of the Palestinian state and that the flag of Palestine will fly outside the UN in New York as that of a full state.

My colleague, Senator Rónán Mullen, has spoken about flags and the suggestion by the German Commissioner, Mr. Günther Oettinger, that we should fly our flag at half mast. As one walks around Dublin, there are many buildings where the EU flag is prominent, including on the GPO, but how friendly is that flag? I met the German Ambassador and a member of the Bundestag at a briefing of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade during the summer and asked him to tell his colleagues in Germany that if they think any EU referendum would be passed in Ireland any time soon, they should realise it will not happen. The Irish people are not going to vote in favour of resolutions to centralise control by the Germans and French, considering how much money the Irish taxpayer is going to pay back to German and French banks. It would be an impossible sell on the doorsteps. To say we have shared sovereignty is a nice way to describe what has happened, but giving more power to the Germans and French would not be acceptable. They have not done a great job with the little power they have at present.

Today, the Minister for Youth Affairs launched a report by One in Four, whose director is Maeve Lewis. I thank Ms Lewis for her support of my speech in the House on the final day of the previous session regarding abuse in Carrignavar in County Cork.