Pádraig Ó Céidigh (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Níl agam ach dhá nóiméad as I am not the leader of our technical group by a long shot. I am very happy with the leader we have.On Senator Gavan's point, none of us condones violence of any nature. We never have and never will, in any place or at any time. I would expect and assume that all Members support that because we are a peaceful society and we try to create a peaceful world. I have not heard anything else from anybody in this House at any time in my almost three years here. Regardless of where it happens and who causes it, whether it is in the past, present or future, that is our stance.

I strongly support Senator Conway-Walsh's very good contribution on insurance. I am involved in business. It is flipping killing us. I would say everybody here agrees with that. I ask the Leader to impress this on Government and on the individuals and Ministers involved, as was supported by my colleague. It is crippling our country, our business, schools, preschools and so on.

I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport. We are going through a particular stage at the moment. I ask the Leader to impress on Government to consider introducing a corporate governance audit every five years on voluntary organisations that get at least €1 million of State funding over a five-year period. The Institute of Directors in Ireland carries out these audits on behalf of businesses. I really believe we should do something like that for any voluntary organisation that gets at least €1 million over a five-year period, and that it be done every five years. That would ensure overall good, proper corporate governance and would give us a sense that the whole organisation was being run as it should be, with flexibility and rotation of directors. It is an initiative that is well worthwhile and would help protect taxpayers' money.