Senator Bacik calls for Debate on Banking, and on the Rights of Families of Homicide Victims

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik: There was talk yesterday about the need to debate good news so I will begin by welcoming some good news, the fact that the airlines appear to be returning to normal service today with the announcement that the air space over Ireland is open again. That is very welcome. The only unwelcome aspect is that it means emigration will begin again. It has been said that the Icelandic volcano did more to stem the flow of emigrants from Ireland, especially young people who must go abroad to seek jobs, than any Government policy. Indeed, Government policies are to blame for rising unemployment. The Labour Party and other Opposition parties have called previously for an urgent debate on jobs and unemployment. That must take place.

I echo the call of Senators Fitzgerald and O'Toole for a debate on banking. This is a very urgent matter and I support the amendment proposed by Senator Fitzgerald. People are volcanic with anger at the revelations that are made daily about excessive payments to bank officials and the cover-ups that occurred. The front page of today's Irish Independent shows an e-mail sent in May 2008 to senior bankers within Anglo Irish Bank telling them not to disclose a back-to-back loan that had been obtained from a German bank to make Anglo Irish Bank appear more creditworthy than it was. We are now seeing extensive information about what was really taking place, particularly in Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society. It requires that we again ask the Government why it passed such a comprehensive bank guarantee scheme in September 2008. The Labour Party was the only party to oppose it and at that time I was the only Independent Senator to oppose it. We were right at the time and we are still right in terms of asking the questions about why that blanket guarantee was given, considering what we know now. We need an urgent debate today on banking in light of these revelations. As Senator Fitzgerald said, there must be serious concern also about the position of public interest directors. A former Fine Gael leader appointed as a public interest director in Anglo Irish Bank now seems to be acting more in the interests of that zombie bank than in the public interest and there are questions about this.

I also ask for a debate on a separate matter, on the rights of families of homicide victims in light of a statement issued during the Easter recess by the association for the truth about the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. That association welcomed the issuing of an arrest warrant in France against an Irish resident. We could learn usefully from some of the French criminal justice procedures in place to assist the families of victims of homicide and of crime in general.

I welcome some aspects of the Government's amendment to the Private Members' motion, the Female Genital Mutilation Bill 2010, proposed by the Labour Party. However, 12 months is a very long time to be waiting for this urgent legislation, given that the first specific Act to ban female genital mutilation was passed in the United Kingdom in 1985 and the Labour Party first introduced a Private Members' Bill in the Dáil in 2001. This delay of 12 months is simply unacceptable. I welcome the Minister's commitment but we will be pressing ahead with that Bill in the debate.