Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Will the Leader organise a debate on the headlines which appeared in the Sunday Business Post on Ireland's cancer survival rate, which is among the worst in Europe? The House has led the way in terms of a consultation process on cancer which provided the information that one third of cancers are caused by lifestyle choices. As my colleague, Senator van Turnhout, pointed out, a Bill brought to the floor of the House more than two years ago, which is supported by the Government, with regard to banning smoking in cars where children are present, got stuck in bureaucracy. This is an area where the Government could take action and on which it stated it would take action but nothing has happened.

It is one of the areas where the Government could take action and said it would take action, yet nothing happened.

I also welcome the news that the Government is going to expand the franchise. However, I am disappointed because the Taoiseach came in here and told us that he was going to consult with the leaders in this House about how reform should take place, yet now we read about the reform in the press. Will the franchise be expanded to the Irish living overseas? Will it be extended to the Irish living in the North? We are one of the few countries in the world that does not give votes to its citizens living outside the State, yet that will continue under the Taoiseach's proposal.

I would like to call for a debate on the BBC "Panorama" programme from last week. It was shocking. In a litany of what has happened in the North of Ireland, what was exposed by that programme was nothing short of outrageous. Earlier in the week, the DPP for the North of Ireland, Mr. Larkin, suggested that there should be no prosecutions as a result of what had happened in the past in the North. In this programme we saw members of a British army unit, the rapid reaction force, boasting about what they had done and saying they would do it again. They went on the programme not for reasons of remorse; it was about recognition and reward. They wanted to be recognised for what they did. They went around Belfast and they shot innocent civilians. Some of them got promoted for it.