Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join with Senator Leyden in condemning the atrocity in the shopping centre in Nairobi. What is really sad about the matter is the fact that all of those killed are innocent people who had nothing to do with conflict in any of the adjoining countries. What really brought it home to me is that a member of my own family, someone who lives there and who goes to that shopping centre, was in the shopping centre just two days before the attack and was lucky the attack was not on that particular day.

Therefore, this attack, although it may have been in another country and on another continent, was not that far away from home. It is important that the people involved in organising it are brought to justice at an early date.

I would also like to raise the issue of the recognition of degrees from third level institutions in Northern Ireland. I was very sad to receive a letter from a graduate from a Northern Ireland institution telling me that having applied to the Department of Health for recognition of their degree, they had been informed that it would be 23 December before a decision would be given. This person is from and lives in my county but happened to go to Northern Ireland to take a particular course. Now they find that after qualifying and receiving a recognised degree in Northern Ireland, they must wait up to six months for recognition for that qualification here. They have a job offer in my county but may lose that job offer because of the Department's delay. Will the Leader raise this matter with the Minister and the Department and inform them that this is not good enough? It is interesting that the letter from the Department uses the term "a non-Irish qualification". I did not realise qualifications from Northern Ireland were considered to be non-Irish. This is something that needs to be remedied immediately.