Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There was a major row in the other House yesterday, resulting in the suspension of a Member after a similar argument was put forward about the lack of time for debate. If ever there was an argument for retaining this House, it is contained in this Government decision in both Houses. This Government is riding roughshod over the democratic institutions of this State. There is no question about that. The unprecedented majority enjoyed by this Government means that it thinks it can do anything it likes, when it likes and how it likes. Here is a perfect example of that. As a result, I will be tabling an amendment to the Order of Business, opposing the proposal that all Stages of this Bill be taken today. That does not normally happen and the Leader has, on occasions, lauded himself and his party for ensuring that it does not engage in this type of practice but here is a perfect example of it.

In the context of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, coming to the House today, this issue is yet another example of what seems to be an increasingly dysfunctional Government. It is not just a question of this Minister but also of other Departments that are engaged in this area. For example, the HSE seems to be operating as some sort of a maverick organisation without any political oversight whatsoever. If one reads any of today's newspaper reports or listens to any of the media commentary on what has happened as a result of the fallout from the "Prime Time Investigates" programme, one can see that lots of promises have been made over the last two and a half years with regard to child care but very little has happened. I must say that Deputy Fitzgerald is a wonderful person with whom I had the pleasure and honour of serving in this House previously. I am not casting any aspersions on her personally. However, there are serious policy questions surrounding what is happening and I hope we will have an opportunity to tease those out later today.

I ask the Leader to convey our sense of frustration about the recent comments made by the US Senator Carl Levin, where he accused this country of being a tax haven.

This came about as a result of committee hearings which were attended by the chief executive officer of Apple, Tim Cook. Mr. Cook went on record yesterday in California as saying no special deal on tax was done between Apple and the Government when the company set up here in the early 1980s, yet, astonishingly, despite the talk by the Government parties and the Taoiseach about trying to make this the best little country in the world to do business, not one e-mail was sent or telephone call was made by the Irish ambassador to the US to Senator Levin. This has been going on for almost two weeks. Are the telephones not working in Government Buildings? Can people not contact Mr. Levin's office and disabuse of him of the notion that this country is a tax haven?

I encourage everyone to engage in the initiative taken by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in the past week, in association with the National Library, to encourage the public to submit memorabilia and describe their memories of the visit of former US President John F. Kennedy to Ireland as we commemorate its 50th anniversary. The Leader hails from the neighbouring county to that of the president's ancestors. This is a wonderful initiative and a website has been set up. People can submit their memorabilia or forward their memories of the event to the National Library.