Order of Business - 5th March 2008

Order of Business - 5th March 2008
Senator David Norris: I join my colleagues in seeking a debate on Northern Ireland. However, I will not join in the chorus of praise for Ian Paisley and the sentimentalising of him as this new figure, "Big Ian". He is big physically but he is morally a pygmy and remains so.
Senator Jim Walsh: That is uncalled for. It is unparliamentary language.
Senator David Norris: I am sorry. I have the right to say it and I will say it and I insist on that right.
An Cathaoirleach: Senator-----
Senator David Norris: I will not be silenced. Too many people have been silenced.
An Cathaoirleach: Senator Norris is an experienced politician in this House.
Senator David Norris: The people who describe themselves as the chuckle brothers have erected themselves on a mound of 3,000 civilian deaths.
An Cathaoirleach: It is unparliamentary language. Senator Norris is an experienced Member of this House and I would hope he would not use unparliamentary language
Senator David Norris: It is not unparliamentary language.
An Cathaoirleach: It is in my opinion.
Senator David Norris: I defy the Cathaoirleach to show me that in a book. I will continue to state this because I believe in telling the truth. The Reverend Ian Paisley undermined by accusing of treason not only Captain Terence O'Neill for meeting Sean Lemass but also Brian Faulkner, James Chichester Clark and David Trimble. What motivated him was ambition. There was no repentance. At least the provos expressed regret. In my opinion he shamed his cloth by using the language of the Bible to divide and separate people and I am glad he is gone. I hope better will come. I have stated severe things about the provisional movement of the IRA but I believe fair is fair and I, at least, will tell the truth about this day. I am glad that for whatever reason he managed to be an instrument at the end towards some degree of reconciliation but I do not think it was his motive.
Will the Leader consider No. 17, motion 36 on the Order Paper with regard to the M3 motorway and Tara? This is in light of the fact that Dr. Jonathan Foyle, chairman of the World Monuments Fund, described driving the motorway through Tara as being comparable to the destruction of the Buddhas at Bamiyan by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Our national poet, Séamus Heaney, stated the motorway "literally desecrates an area - I mean the word means to "desacralise" and, for centuries, the Tara landscape and the Tara sites have been regarded as part of the sacred ground". Will the Leader organise a debate on this before it is too late?