Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join Senator Gavan in paying tribute to the late Diego Maradona. I am of the generation that admired his skills and we extend our deepest sympathies.

I concur wholeheartedly with Senator Craughwell's point that there is a cohort of local authority members who are being, to borrow Senator Dooley's phrase, hollowed out by Covid-19. There is an obligation on us, a Chathaoirligh. Perhaps this is something you could lead us on as Cathaoirleach of the House. Given that we are predominantly elected by the councils, maybe you could make representations to the Government on behalf of those men and women who are being really hollowed out by Covid-19 in their personal workspace.

I ask the Deputy Leader to hold a debate in the House on the role of An Garda Síochána, Revenue and the DPP in the light of the "RTÉ Investigates" programme last night. At a time when RTÉ is getting criticised, we should pay tribute to it if the facts are as presented last night in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme on Patrick Russell. If the programme material is correct, there are serious questions that must be asked around the role of the Garda, Revenue and the DPP. I know they are not here to defend themselves. I am talking about if the information is correct because we have only got one side. It is not good enough that people have been defrauded and have been robbed. This person is in jail, a Chathaoirligh, so he has been proven to be guilty.