Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I rise to agree with Senator Bradford in his sense of bewilderment at a lack of empathy in this country. One can only bring this back to a fact that society is becoming bland and disconnected. History has been dropped as a core subject and it has been diminished as a topic in second level education. One must be very worried about that as we cannot go forward unless we understand the past. Even civics, a subject which is crucial in creating some sort of awareness of the general public, politics and civic responsibilities and duties, as well as what comprises a good citizen, is also being sidelined. It was diminished over years before coming back into vogue but it is to be sidelined again. It is a worrying trend in our education system. We must consider a more holistic approach to education. Perhaps in the autumn the Leader might be able to arrange a debate on the teaching of history and civics in schools.

With regard to the Garth Brooks fiasco, the country must realise that the law cannot be taken for granted and it will be all right on the day. It should be a lesson to everybody that one is best doing things right, rather than following a culture which seems to prevail in this country that it will be fine on the day. I hope there will be a resolution, as in fairness to Mr. Peter Aiken, he was just following the practice of hundreds of others when it came to licensing. I have tremendous sympathy for him as he has found himself in what he calls a "nightmarish" position. In the autumn, if possible, we need to have a debate on promoting the entertainment industry in this country. It is a significant tourist attraction and the capital city in particular is seen as a place where artists like to perform. We already know 70,000 people were coming for this concert. I know thousands of people come when U2 or many other acts come here to perform. We should be growing the sector rather than decreasing it or ignoring it. Tourism can involve event tourism as much as anything else.