Ivana Bacik

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik: Some of my colleagues commented on George Lee’s resignation from the other House. It will be a shame if his decision results in an increase in cynicism about politics. It is a shame he did not give politics longer than eight months. If a week is a long time in politics, eight months is a short time in which to make an impact. The question that must be asked is why he chose this course of action at this time.

I echo the calls of other Senators for a debate on the National Asset Management Agency in the light of news reports on the International Monetary Fund’s view of the agency. On the night the House debated the National Asset Management Agency Bill in the presence of the Minister for Finance Senators considered amendments and went through the legislation section by section. Colleagues will recall that I tabled an amendment aimed at introducing a mechanism along the lines of the French independent ombudsman or mediator. Under the French system, small businesses refused credit by banks on unreasonable and unjustifiable grounds can appeal to an independent mechanism to have the decision overturned. I was reminded of this by news reports on the IMF’s view of NAMA and a newspaper report yesterday on a small bakery business in Dublin city centre which was refused credit by a major bank on what appear to be most unreasonable grounds. This is the type of real human story which should give impetus to calls for the Minister for Finance to come to the House to explain the reason he indicated the establishment of the National Asset Management Agency would result in an increase in credit when the IMF clearly took a different view. Even with the enactment of the legislation and with plans under way for the transfer of assets, small businesses are still being unreasonably refused credit and we still do not have the independent mechanism of an ombudsman or a mediator which I urged the Minister to adopt in my amendment.

I again ask for a debate on the treatment of unaccompanied minors in care. Mr. Philip Garland, the new assistant national director for children and families in the Health Service Executive, made an important point yesterday when he criticised the past policy of the HSE towards such children and suggested the policy towards them may even be regarded as racist. He also accepted that the hostel accommodation provided for such children was inadequate. Having raised this issue previously, I ask for an urgent debate on the matter. More than 500 unaccompanied children have gone missing from HSE care in the past ten years, which is a national disgrace.

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