Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)

Ba mhaith liom cuidiú leis an moladh atá déanta ag mo chomleacaí, an Seanadóir David Cullinane, go ndéanfaí leasú ar an Riar Gnó inniu le go dtiocfadh an tAire Airgeadais isteach agus go bpléadh muid na moltaí maidir le cáinaisnéis na bliana seo. I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by my colleague, Senator Cullinane. I also seek clarification from the Leader regarding our letter to each Member of the House about speaking time for members of Sinn Féin. A certain amount of information has been conveyed to us about changes to that. There will not be statements on housing today, but there will be tomorrow. However, there is no clarification yet on where we stand with regard to statements and how much time will be afforded to Sinn Féin Members of the House. We would appreciate if the Leader would clarify that as we obviously need time to prepare. Being given only a minute is quite different from having a number of minutes. We would appreciate clarification as to where every Member of the House stands on allowing Sinn Féin Members the right to speak in these debates.

I also support Senator Hayden's call for a debate on the role of young people and how they are treated in this country. If the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, is coming to the House to discuss those issues, I am anxious to ask why single parents are being discriminated against in the JobBridge programme. At present, single parents are not allowed to apply for the JobBridge programme. Many of them are young people. Against all adversity they are trying to get back into the workforce and make a career for themselves but, according to correspondence I have received from the Department, they are excluded from that programme. We should discuss that and also whether the JobBridge programme is working and doing what it is intended to do.

I also ask that the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, be invited to the House to discuss the new licensing regime for the oil and gas industry. A total of 13 licences were given to exploration companies for the Corrib gas field. He should explain to the Seanad what terms and conditions were attached to those licences. Are they different from the terms and conditions in the licences that were handed out by the previous Government, which handed over our scarce natural resources for little payback to the Irish State? If that has happened again, the Minister can explain why that is so, which models from which countries he has examined in his deliberations, the regimes with which he has compared our regime and why we do not have more favourable regimes like those in countries such as Norway and Canada. Táim ag iarraidh go dtiocfaidh an tAire, an Teachta Rabbitte, isteach chun míniú iomlán a thabhairt dúinn ar chéard atá ag tarlú maidir leis na ceadúnais, ó thaobh gáis agus ola, sa tír seo.