Senator Bacik calls for debates on the ownership of national schools, the Climate Protection Bill, and the Civil Partnership Bill.
Order of Business
Senator Ivana Bacik: I echo the words of Senator Alex White in calling for a debate on the ownership of national schools. While Archbishop Martin’s comments that the Catholic monopoly, as he put it, over schooling is not tenable are welcome, some caution is necessary. The archbishop referred, in the reported version of his speech, to the management of schools rather than ownership. If we are to have debate on this matter we must also look at the ownership of schools that are being paid for and maintained by the State and yet remain, as far as we can tell, predominantly in the ownership of the Catholic church. A debate is needed to ensure there is greater choice for parents and children as to where they receive their education.
I renew my call to the Leader for a timeframe for the introduction of the Climate Protection Bill and the Civil Partnership Bill. The Leader responded yesterday but did not give a commitment as to when those Bills will be introduced or any sort of promise as to whether they would be introduced. There has been a long lead-in for both Bills. We heard accusations of Ministers sleeping in the other House last week and there is a danger that Ministers might be seen to be sleeping on the job if the Bills I referred to are not introduced very shortly because there has been plenty of preparation time.
I introduced the Climate Protection Bill to the House and we called a vote on it in the last number of weeks. There has been plenty of preparation time available to the Government and there are plenty of models for climate protection legislation to be introduced without further delay. We are facing into the Copenhagen climate summit in December. This is something that cannot be left on the long finger. The Stop Climate Chaos campaign organised a massive human hourglass on Sandymount Strand last weekend to show that time is running out and we need legislative action on this issue. I ask for an answer on that.
I support Senator Healy-Eames in her call for a debate on bilateral adoption agreements, with particular reference to Vietnam. It is of real concern to hear that the Vietnamese authorities have now, I understand, cancelled the licence for the agency with which Irish couples have been working. A great number of individuals and couples in Ireland have been left in limbo and do not know where they stand regarding their prospective adoptions of Vietnamese children. We need the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, to come into the House to answer questions on this matter.