Feargal Quinn (Independent)

When the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade came before the House a few weeks ago I raised the question of an Irish citizen who has been imprisoned in Sri Lanka for quite some time. This Irish citizen has been locked up for four and a half years, which is 1,674 days to date. He has not been charged. It is fair to say he is kept in desperate conditions. I am not sure where we go from here. What more can we do? The Tánaiste stated he would make the case and have the ambassador make the case also. This is longer than Terry Waite was imprisoned on his own some years ago. I will not mention the man's name but we should mention the case and think about him. His wife and children are here in Ireland and are worried about him. We must do something. I do not know what one can do except bring it to light. Therefore, I ask the Leader's advice in this regard. I will pass on the man's details to the Leader to ensure we continue to draw attention to the case, remember he is there, have sympathy, and not only this but act to ensure his release comes about.

Senator Mary Ann O'Brien mentioned hotel charges. I do not understand how we can treat hotel bedrooms as something to which we can apply the copyright charge. When we introduced the ban on tobacco we excluded hotel bedrooms, but now we state hotel bedrooms are to be regarded as something not private to the extent that each hotel bedroom will have to charge a tax on copyright. Something must be done about this. The charge on hotel bedrooms will take us another step towards our tourism businesses no longer being competitive.