Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to note that the State was not complicit in that regard.

Senators Frank Feighan, Rose Conway-Walsh and Ned O'Sullivan spoke about the desecration and vandalism of the grave of Éamon de Valera. As Leader of the House, I join in the condemnation of those who carried out this act. Éamon de Valera was a statesman; he was Taoiseach and President of this country. He played a pivotal role in its history and development. Regardless of one's political viewpoint, his grave is his resting place. It is a place where people go to pray and worship and his family to remember him. Those of us who visit the graves of loved ones join in the calls for them to be left as sacred places.

I join Senator Máire Devine in congratulating An Garda Síochána on its success in recent days and weeks against gang members in Dublin city. It can only work with information that is in addendum to that gained in its own investigative work. As public representatives, I hope we will all ask people and impress on them the need to co-operate with An Garda Síochána and provide information. Those involved in criminal gangs in the capital city are from and living in the communities in which they are known. It is important that the Garda be given information, whether in community policing fora or privately and confidentially. It is important that we work with it to out the people concerned and bring them to justice.

If Senator Ned O'Sullivan has a specific issue about the rent allowance scheme, I will be happy to speak to him later about it. I will also be happy to have the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, come to the House to discuss the scheme.

Senator Rose Conway-Walsh referred to Senator Keith Swanick's Bill. I think what he is trying to achieve is a celebration and a commemoration of the First Dáil on the date it first met. We should all aspire to achieving that objective. It is, however, a little populist and political to make an accusation in the context of votes for the diaspora. The Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, gave a commitment during the discussion on the Bill that he would come back to the House with another to recognise the diaspora and those living in the North. It was a political shot because what Senator Keith Swanick is trying to do-----