Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Will the Leader ask the Minister for Finance on the next occasion he comes before the House to give clarity to the call made by the outgoing Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Honohan, which has been widely reported for the money due to be set aside for junior bondholders following the winding up of IBRC to go to the Exchequer and not be paid to the junior bondholders? Those who have followed the story in today's newspapers will have been fascinated by the exchange of e-mails between Professor Honohan and the assistant secretary in the Department of Finance. It seems on the face of it that there is a prima faciecase for at least challenging the right of the junior bondholders to be paid, albeit the amount is small in the context of the overall figure of €32 billion.Some €300 million would go a long way towards addressing some of the inequalities in our society. I would welcome the Leader's view on the matter and also ask that he communicate my comments to the Minister and obtain some clarity on the Department's view on it, notwithstanding the content of the e-mails as published in today's newspapers.

I must confess that I do not enthusiastically embrace the report of Amnesty International on so-called human rights here. Mr. Lorcan Price, barrister for the pro-life movement, made clear in his submission in Geneva yesterday that there is nothing in international law to indicate that abortion is a human right. I am unashamedly pro-life. I do accept the complexities involved and I would like to think that I am more on the liberal side of thinking in this regard but when it comes to choice between the unborn and whether they live or die, somebody has to speak for the unborn. I believe our constitutional obligations speak for the unborn in that regard. I do not enthusiastically embrace the view that appears to be now growing that somehow abortion is a human right. There is nothing in international legislation to indicate this. In fact, it has been made clear that it is for individual states to decide how they address this issue. I want to put on the record that not everybody is enthusiastically embracing this report. I believe it is a flawed report, which leads me to question my continuing support for Amnesty International, an organisation that I have proudly supported for decades and does wonderful work in other areas.

I second the amendment proposed by Senator Darragh O'Brien.