Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I mentioned Jimmy Walsh last week, but I will extend an invitation to him this week. If he has time on his hands and is interested in improving his Irish, he will be welcome in Connemara any time.

I support Senator van Turnhout's call on direct provision. I have visited some of the centres. This serious and complex issue has been raised a number of times on the Adjournment. The letter in today's edition of The Irish Times puts it succinctly. The situation has been compared with that of the Magdalen laundries. We will have an investigation on our hands if we do not do something about this potential scandal quickly.

One of the moments that sparked the debate on the Magdalen laundries was a play by Ms Patricia Burke-Brogan, which leads me to my second point. Today is World Theatre Day. The power of theatre and the arts should not be underestimated. I echo Senator Mac Conghail's sentiments, in that we need to support the theatre and arts community. It has been a while since the Seanad debated the arts. The Minister's attendance would be useful.

On the back of this morning's presentation by Dr. AbdelFattah Abusrour and the President's "Glaoch" programme, which called on us all to determine how we could use culture, language, music and arts to put our country forward, a debate on this topic would be useful, particularly to discuss how our artists are faring in this difficult financial situation. Ba mhaith liom go mbeadh díospóireacht againn faoi chúrsaí ealaíne chomh luath agus is féidir.