Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

I join with my colleagues in wishing to raise the Fr. Reynolds matter. I pay tribute to the solicitors who acted for him. People are open in their criticism of the legal profession, but this was a case where the legal profession stood by their client in spite of the fact that it was up against a major player in the Irish media. The solicitor took on the media and came through with the truth. That is a tribute to the solicitor and to the legal team who acted for him. I recollect dealing with RTE on a similar matter a number of years ago when we served a High Court writ on RTE in the reception area of the RTE studios to find the writ dumped into the waste paper bin in front of our eyes. That is the way we, as members of the legal profession, were treated by them. I congratulate the teams who acted for Fr. Reynolds in this case.

I wish to raise an issue on the European Globalisation Fund, a matter I raised previously. Last week the European Parliament voted through €35.7 million for Irish construction workers who have lost their jobs. I know that a number of MEPs have raised concerns about ensuring that every cent of that money is used for the retraining and upskilling of people who have lost their jobs this country. I would like to have a debate because on previous occasions, some of the money from the European Globalisation Fund had to be refunded to Europe. I want to ensure that the same mistakes are not made again. It would be appropriate to have a debate and to identify the issues that arose on the last occasion and ensure they do not arise again. I would like the Minister to come to the House to explain the difficulties that occurred the last time and to make sure we have dotted all the i's and crossed the t's on this occasion to ensure none of the money has to be refunded.