Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Senator also referred to the people of Tibet. I have great respect for their endurance and will call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to debate the issue in the House.

Senator Colm Burke raised the matter of the drafting of legislation. I will raise the matter with the Government Whip and he, in turn, will raise it with the Attorney General. The matter is being and needs to be examined.

Senator Thomas Byrne spoke about climate change. We can certainly have a debate on the issue in the House.

However, I certainly have no intention of meeting through the night. Actually, I believe it was Senator Byrne who mentioned the nonsense of meeting through the night only a few weeks ago and I would go along with the Senator in that regard. We can have a debate on the issue but not through the night.

Senators Whelan, Kelly and Landy raised the issue of wind farms, but there is a matter for the Adjournment tabled for this evening on that issue as well as a Private Member's motion to be debated tomorrow. In that context, I do not propose to pre-empt what the Minister will say on the matter. Senator Barrett referred to the Minister for Finance's response to the recent comments of Professor Morgan Kelly. I believe the Minister responded in a correct and diligent manner on the subject. The Minister for Finance was in this House last week and Senator Barrett contributed to the debate with him. However, only ten Senators contributed to the discussion with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on the Action Plan for Jobs. We can certainly invite Ministers into the House but when debates are requested we must fill those time slots when the Ministers set aside time to come here.

Senator O'Donnell spoke about the need for increased lending by the banks to the SME sector. Again, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation was in the House last week to discuss the Action Plan for Jobs, but we can certainly ask the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, to come in to discuss the issue of lending to small businesses.