Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I renew my call for a debate on Syria and the appalling bombardment of civilians in Aleppo. We are seeing really horrific scenes from Aleppo this week. Indeed, the French foreign Minister has described what we are seeing as potentially the biggest massacre of civilians since World War II. I know the UN Security Council is convening an emergency meeting. I had the privilege yesterday of hearing first-hand accounts from Syria at a Scholars at Risk in Trinity College attended by President Michael D. Higgins at which the provost of Trinity College was also present. One of the speakers at a panel I chaired was a Syrian archaeologist from Aleppo who spoke movingly of the fear and trauma suffered by civilians under siege in that unfortunate city. I ask the Leader for a debate on that issue. The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence will hear from a number of different delegates from Syria and some journalists who have reported on the conflict tomorrow but I ask that we have an early debate here.

I also ask for a debate on transport policy. I was pleased to see that this week, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport published a list of priorities for the Department on his departmental website only six months into the new Government. At least, we see some priorities. Unfortunately, there is very little that is new on that list, most of which relates to projects that were already ongoing before the Minister took office. It is disappointing that there is no sign of any major new initiative. I ask the Leader for a debate on transport policy, particularly the need for a really enlightened policy on the resourcing of cycling and cycling infrastructure. We have seen some really good initiatives, particularly the roll-out of Dublin Bikes, which was originally an initiative of Andrew Montague, a Labour Party councillor in Dublin City Council. We need to hear some new initiatives and dynamic thinking from the Minister of the sort that perhaps he exhibited previously when he called for an end to road tolls when he was merely a journalist. That would be worth hearing.

I welcome the announcement that an agreement has been reached at Cabinet about judicial appointments. I look forward to the debate on this House on the judicial appointments Bill. Apparently, a general scheme will be published in the next ten days. It is good to hear that at last, we will get some movement on judicial appointments in the meantime given the comments of the President of the Circuit Court, Judge Raymond Groarke, a number of days ago when he spoke of the difficulty in ensuring that people would get their cases heard given the shortage of judges. I wish colleagues on the Oireachtas committee on water charges well under the chairpersonship of Senator Ó Céidigh. I look forward to the debate on that.