SEANAD REPORT:DAVID NORRIS (Ind) said he deplored the fact that sittings of the Seanad began with a prayer. "I find that offensive, and I say this as a practising Christian who goes to church every Sunday.
“It’s a rigmarole, it means nothing, and we should be alert to the fact that there are atheists, agnostics, Jews and Muslims, and I just think it makes a mockery of the whole thing, to invoke Jesus Christ as the source of our doings here.” Labhrás Ó Murchú (FF) was disappointed at Mr Norris’s comments. “ I think it is far better that we say a prayer than to be cursing each other, anyway.”
People had a right to know what pressures were being brought to bear by “extra-parliamentary agencies” on those supposed to be acting in the interests of the Irish people, Mr Norris said. He would be tabling a motion requiring membership of groups such as the Knights of Columbanus and Opus Dei to be disclosed by those in public service to the Ethics in Public Office Commission.
A senior political figure had been reported as telling the Dáil the arrangement whereby the State would bear the brunt of compensating the victims of abuse in religious-run institutions was a secret deal. “I think we all know what that means,” he said.
Terry Leyden (FF) asked why politicians should carry the cross for what had happened at Anglo Irish Bank. There were merits and demerits to the proposed creation of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), he believed. The Government would be well advised to consider Anglo Irish Bank for insolvency and receivership. It was sucking a further €4 billion out of the economy.
Dan Boyle (GP), deputy Government leader in the House, said some decisions taken prior to the participation of the Greens in Government contributed to a worsening of the Irish economic situation compared with what occurred elsewhere. That said, he believed it was important for his party to stay in government to correct many effects of those decisions.
It was a matter of concern that Senators still did not know the nature of the guarantees the Government was seeking from the EU in relation to the Lisbon Treaty, Eugene Regan (FG) said.