Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator Feargal Quinn's amendment to the Order of Business.

On the day on which we are all paying tribute to the late Nelson Mandela, the day of his memorial service, I welcome to the Visitors Gallery Ms Leanna Byrne, communications officer of the students' union in TCD, and Mr. Tom Lenihan, its president.

The students' union renamed House 6 Nelson Mandela House when Mandela was still in jail. There is, therefore, a strong connection between the students' union and Nelson Mandela and I am pleased its representatives have joined us today. The Lenihan family has made many contributions to public life.

I welcome Judge Smithwick's report on the shootings of Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan. At the end of his most comprehensive report, which runs to 432 pages, Judge Smithwick recommends the establishment of an integrated border intelligence team between the two jurisdictions on the island modelled on the team in operation on the United States-Canada border. I hope our ambassadors to Canada and the United States will be asked to brief the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Justice and Equality on how the team operates. I ask the Leader to provide information to the House in advance of our discussion on the Smithwick report on how the integrated border intelligence team between the United States and Canada works. Relations between the United Kingdom and Ireland and the authorities, North and South, are at least as harmonious as relations between the United States and Canada. A border intelligence team may be a good model to explore before the House debates the Smithwick report.