The mistreatment of children in the past was not confined to Catholic institutions, Mr David Norris (Ind) said. "The way some senatorial colleagues were talking about the RTE television States of Fear programme, anyone would think it was only the Christian Brothers and the Mercy nuns whose actions needed to be examined. "I went to an up-market Protestant boarding school in this State and I can assure you nothing that I saw or heard on television is strange to me. I would welcome an investigation into the kinds of school that I attended as a boarder."
The treatment of people in Northern Ireland over the flotation of Telecom Eireann appeared to go against the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement, Dr Maurice Hayes (Ind) said. A large number of people in the North were keenly disappointed at being unable to register for the flotation on the same basis as that available to residents of this State, he said.
The leader of the House, Mr Donie Cassidy, said he would convey Mr Hayes's views to the Minister for Public Enterprise.
While praising the Government for "righting a great wrong" done to former Garda superintendent William Geary, the Fine Gael leader in the Seanad, Mr Maurice Manning, noted the centenarian's belief that what finally tipped the balance in his favour was the newspaper publicity he had received, especially in The Irish Times, which had pioneered the story through Margaret Ward.