Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleague, Senator Mac Conghail, I lament the passing of the poet and novelist Dermot Healy. When such people pass away, a pulse of the nation is gone somewhere into the ether. We do not cherish our poets, playwrights and artists half enough. Their contribution to the country can be greater than and above politics. I lament it even more when I see what is happening to the arts in education. Emphasis is constantly being put on computers and technical education, while not enough money and emphasis is put on artistic education, which can do as much for young people. We have lost a great heart beat, and we tend to forget that when we get caught up in politics. He was a marvellous writer and a lovely man. He was from Cavan, where I attended school for many years. I knew him well and lament him greatly. He cherished this country. He lived in Sligo, loved it and wrote about it, and it is something special. It is a tragedy that he has passed away.

A young German student was brutally murdered in this country two years ago and his trial was recently heard in the Central Criminal Court. His parents stood with great dignity and eternal sadness as they lost him. He was his mother's only son. The assailant got a sentence of nine years. While I am not one to take on the courts, there is something wrong in society when the punishment does not fit the crime.

A six year sentence was handed down to a person who was importing garlic and people are being brutally murdered-----