Senator Bacik supports calls for a debate on Banking, and on Theatre Funding

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik: I will be brief. First, will the Leader confirm we will be having a debate on women's participation in politics next Tuesday? Second, I support calls for a debate on banking. We need to ask two key questions in this House. Why can Postbank be allowed go to the wall and yet Anglo Irish Bank is apparently of such systemic importance that it must be saved no matter what at enormous cost to the taxpayer? Why are the citizens of Iceland being asked their views on a bail-out for the banks and the citizens of Ireland are not?

Finally, I congratulate Corn Exchange Theatre Company and ask for a debate on theatre funding. Corn Exchange Theatre Company got two awards yesterday — I am a member of its board — yet its funding has been cut by the Arts Council. We need an urgent debate on Arts Council funding and on sufficient funding for the arts.