Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join with others in offering sympathies to the Henry family and, obviously, the family of Detective Garda Donohoe - there will be much debate about that in coming days. I would ask that, while I appreciate that my colleague, Senator Darragh O'Brien, has said that, given the seriousness of the crime perpetrated last week and the callous murder of Detective Garda Donohoe, this is not a day for normal business, as Senator Norris stated, we must also press on and raise the issues that are necessary.

As Senator Darragh O'Brien stated, a debate would be useful. There was a debate last week in the context of dealing with issues to do with the Garda. Resourcing, this crime aside, is a major issue within the Garda. While people understand that the Government must make cuts, when it comes to front-line health service and law enforcement all of us would gladly contribute more to have the knowledge of our relative security, and that is incumbent on all of us. When that debate takes place, perhaps we can begin to peel back the blindfold on some of the issues within the Garda that are being under resourced. For example, Sligo, in the north-west, has a detective unit of eight detectives and there is one car between them. Cavan has a unit with six detectives and there is no car for those six detectives. While I can appreciate when the Minister states that the crime of last week is in no way connected to resources, when there are eight detectives in Sligo and six in Cavan with but one car for those 14 Garda to do their duties, I am bound to conclude we are not providing them with the necessary resources.

Finally, I ask for an early clarification from the Minister for Finance, if he is available to come to the House - he has so often made himself available to us - to clarify what is going on in the context of the promissory note. This was announced to us as the panacea that would help deal with matters. We on this side of the House support the Government's efforts in this regard. The Taoiseach stated that Ireland is the only country that did not have the same tools available to it in dealing with the crisis as other countries have.

The people of Ireland and the Government have shown solidarity to European communion in helping to save the euro. Now it is time for them to reciprocate. There is complete confusion in this regard between Bloomberg, CNN and the various other news agencies. The people of Ireland, such as the person whom Senator Norris rightly pointed out is struggling to pay a mortgage, need to know what is in it for the Irish citizen.