Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----Deputy Harris and the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne. The latter addressed these issues. He respectfully disagreed with the notion that the triple lock is a threat and that Russia does not have a veto under the triple lock. He maintained clearly, as does the Government, that Russia and the other permanent members of the Security Council have a veto against Ireland's peacekeeping policy. That is the reason for the proposals to change the triple lock.

Senator Andrews spoke about the betting tax. I do not know exactly. I asked the Minister for Finance to come to the House to talk about all matters in his brief. That may be an opportunity to addressed that matter. If the Senator had raised it as a Commencement matter, he would have got an answer from the Department of Finance, which would have come from the Minister's office. Obviously, the Department does not negotiate budget matters on the floor, but the Senator's colleagues can raise the matter in the finance committee, if he is not a member, once committees are established. It is an important issue. I am not sure why it is not in the programme for Government but, as I said, it will be subject to negotiations regarding the budget.