Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree very much with the sentiments expressed by previous speakers. A debate on sentencing is most important. When certain sentences are handed down, we can see that the Judiciary do not have the appropriate guidance or sufficient options to arrive at the outcomes that are clearly required in certain situations. We can see evidence of that this week.

I support that call. I join with my colleague, Senator Darragh O'Brien to ask for a debate on the issue of these graduate posts which the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, has suggested. It is ridiculous in the extreme and it is downright unfair if this proposal goes ahead. Senator Hayden has rightly called for a debate on equality in this country. The Minister, Deputy Reilly, is proposing to pay certain people 80% of the wage for 100% of the work. This is fundamentally wrong. Lincoln called it slavery; Nelson Mandela called it apartheid. Is this Government going to do the same to the graduates of this country?