Order of Business - 1st December 2005

Order of Business - 1st December 2005

Mr. Norris: I ask for a debate before Christmas
on the issue of homelessness, particularly in our
cities. We have many debates on child care, which
is essentially a middle-class issue——
Ms O’Meara: No, it is not.
Mr. Norris: Yes, it is. We are left here——
Ms O’Meara: It is not. I must say——
Mr. Norris: Yes, it is.
Ms O’Meara: That is outrageous. Child care is
not a middle-class issue.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach: Senator Norris without
interruption.
Mr. Norris: I happen to think it is. One reads
newspaper articles about people with two children,
a house and cars who want the taxpayer to
pick up the bill so they can have a third child——
Ms O’Meara: That is an extremely unfair
remark.
Mr. Norris: I am just making that point.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach: Senator Norris without
interruption. Is Senator Norris seeking a
debate?
Ms O’Meara: That is unfair to the many thousands
of people who struggle with this issue
every day.
Mr. B. Hayes: Working class hero.
Mr. Norris: When we consider this issue, we
should consider people who are more
vulnerable——
Mr. Ryan: Illiberal liberalism.
Mr. Norris: I am discussing people who have
absolutely nothing, 15 of whom died in recent
weeks.
Mr. Ryan: It is nobody’s problem.
Mr. Norris: Neither of them are my problem. I
am not homeless and I am not in a situation
requiring child care. I am making the distinction
that people seeking child care already have something
and these people have nothing.
Ms O’Meara: It is an unnecessary distinction.
Mr. Norris: I also request a debate on Iraq. The
city centre of Ramadi was taken over by 400
armed men who claim to be members of al-
Qaeda, on the day after President Bush again told
a military audience he is winning his war. On top
of that we are made complicit in the crime of torture
because a Gulfstream V jet, which is an
international pariah, is still allowed to conduct its
torture missions through our airports.
I notice two articles beside each other on the
front page of The Irish Times today, one indicating
that less than 10% of people have applied for
decentralisation, and the other indicating that the
Minister of State at the Department of Transport,
Deputy Callely, is on his sixth secretary in three
years and is also seeking a new constituency secretary.
Will the Government consider giving him
responsibility for decentralisation?