Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo the comments by Senators Coghlan and Ó Murchú. We do not come here for a Punch and Judy show and to have produced articles with lines like "Ashen-faced Minister will have to answer to the junior Minister because he was defeated in the Senate". We come here to serve the country and we should look at motions in that spirit because the previous type of politics led us to where we are now.

I thank the Leader for facilitating the education reference yesterday. It was very important and we knew the Minister would agree with what the Seanad said but the Seanad was here first and it is very important the Leader facilitated that.

I also wish to raise Senator Kelly's motion on the Order Paper concerning windmills. I believe the public service obligation part of one's electricity bill will increase because of the subsidies needed for the windmills. I appreciate Senator Kelly has other objections but we need to discuss this, particularly proposals that would involve Irish electricity consumers paying more in the public service obligation to export electricity to England. One estimate is that it will go up by 42% this year. It seems those projects need to be analysed and perhaps it is a topic to which we might return.