Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join with Senator Norris. We need a debate now that the campaign is over. I congratulate President Higgins on his re-election. It is right and proper that he was re-elected by the people, not by the people in this House alone.

Tony O'Brien was reported to have made some horrendous statements about the Minister for Health over the weekend. If he had something to say about the Minister for Health why the hell did he not say it while he was in office? Why did he let the Minister approach the doors of the Dáil in the debate on the cervical cancer scandal and leave him with certain information at the last moment? Mr. O'Brien should have taken his package and walked away quietly and left the Government and the Minister alone.I am no spokesman for either but I cannot abide people who stab others in the back on the way out. That is precisely what Mr. O'Brien did at the weekend in his interview with The Sunday Business Post.

It is not all good news for the Government. What right does the Government of Ireland have to instruct Óglaigh na hÉireann to use the Government logo on any promotional video produced? An excellent letter by Michael Heery from North King Street in Dublin deals with this issue. He deals not only with the illegality of it but with how it is in contravention of the Geneva Convention to mix the civilian and military logos. Somebody somewhere needs to sit down and have a look at this. What we are seeing here is a display of utter ignorance on the part of the civilian secretariat of the State with respect to the importance of the military logo versus the Government logo. This has to stop. Óglaigh na hÉireann is not there to represent the Government in any way. It is there to serve the country and its people. I would like the Leader to convey my dismay, and the dismay of many people in Óglaigh na hÉireann, at it being forced to use a logo that has no place in its promotional videos.