Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I respect the point the Senator made and know she made it with great sincerity and thoughtfulness.

I agree 100% with what was said about the use of guillotines in this House. It adds insult to injury when we have Second Stage speeches of only five minutes being allowed. How can anybody in the Upper House with a titter of wit consider legislation which introduces a constitutional amendment and speak about the essential principles of that in five minutes? It is bad enough that these pieces of legislation are being run through in one day and that there is a guillotine, but it adds insult to injury that only five minutes are being allowed for Second Stage speeches.

I welcome the apparent decision by the Government to oppose the resort-style casino in Tipperary and respectfully disagree with my esteemed colleague, Senator Mullins, on what he had to say about gambling yesterday. I know he is conscious of the need to protect jobs, but am sure he would agree with me that we also need to maintain the realisation that gambling is in many ways the new "alcoholism" in this country. It affects many young professional men in particular. The proposed casino in Tipperary was to be designed along the lines of the White House, but that would have offended both the Americans and good taste at the same time. I am glad the Government opposes the casino.

We should all regret that the State of Georgia has ignored the pleas of people like Pope Benedict, former President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others to give a new trial to Troy Davis and has executed him instead. Yesterday, the Leader said he thought there would be support for an all-party motion on this issue. I propose to contact the leaders of the other groups on a wording for this in which we could deplore the judicial killing of Troy Davis and affirm our ongoing opposition to capital punishment, in all circumstances and not just when there is doubt about the innocence or guilt of the party in question.