Order of Business - 6th December 2006

Order of Business – 6th December 2006

Mr. Norris: I find myself in the embarrassing situation of agreeing with Senator Mansergh's comments about the rebroadcasting this morning of a budget speech given some years ago by the former Minister, Mr. Ray MacSharry. The speech, in which Mr. MacSharry referred to the difficult days we were experiencing at the time, was stark in the extreme. He said that while there had been decreases in production, productivity, exports, Exchequer income and employment, we should not lose courage because the foundations for future prosperity could be laid if we took some difficult steps. We have to give credit to people on all sides of the House who faced the realities of the time. Mr. MacSharry, among others, helped to lay the foundations for what we have today.

Senators: Hear, hear.

Mr. Norris: I hope the Minister for Finance decides to pay off some more of the national debt in today's budget. It would be wonderful if we could become debt-free in these times of prosperity.
I would like to speak about the extraordinary figures relating to the sentencing of prisoners which have been mentioned by other Senators. I gather the figures can be compared to the equivalent international figures. There is nothing unusual about our figures in that context. The rate of recidivism in Ireland is not greater than that in other countries - in fact, it is slightly less. It is interesting that just 25% of sexual offenders reoffend, as I would have thought the figure would be far higher. It appears the behaviour of such people in certain circumstances is less compulsive than the community believes. I do not agree with the idea of imprisoning people for not paying fines in respect of their television sets. Some of my colleagues have suggested taking some of the meagre social welfare income that such people receive. That is the most revolting suggestion I have heard in this House. I simply cannot believe it. I am sure it was just a slip of the tongue or a mistake.

Ms O'Rourke: No.

Mr. Norris: It would just catapult them back in again. It would be a complete waste of time.
I have just learned to my sorrow that there is no such thing as an original idea. I had written down what I planned to say about the annual cost of €90,000 for the detention of people in ordinary prisons and of €250,000 for the fancy accommodation for the Shinners. One could certainly send people to good schools for that amount of money. I am really being serious when I ask why we should not provide for that. Given that we have provided for affordable housing, should we not require snotty boarding schools to take in a prisoner each?

Mr. Dardis: Some of them are already full of prisoners.

Mr. Norris: It would do them good. It would certainly save the Exchequer money.
I am a little concerned about the question of fluoridation. I have been contacted by people who have far more information on the matter than I have. We have certain medical personnel of various kinds in this House. I have received a press release from the Irish Medical News, stating that parents in Ireland who make up formula with tap water give their children seven times the safe level of fluoride, as agreed by the British Medical Association. The Minister for Health and Children has told the Dáil that if fluoride is to have any ill-effects, a newborn baby weighing 3kg would have to ingest 15mg of fluoride, which would be 176 times more than the safe fluoride level agreed by the British Medical Association. I would like to know who is wrong. Are infants in this country in danger of being poisoned, or is the British Medical Association wrong? It would be useful for Senators to get advice on this matter from the Minister for Health and Children and some of our medical colleagues in this House.