THE burning of churches and homes of Catholics in Northern Ireland was condemned in the Seanad yesterday.
Mr David Norris (Ind), who raised the matter, said that things had reached a new low in the North. They had also seen the targeting of a working woman and the shooting up of a children's ward in a hospital. They had now sunk to this new low level of barbarism. All civilised people would condemn the burning of churches. He hoped other religions would offer their churches so that Mass could be celebrated there.
Mr Paschal Mooney (FF) said they all condemned the burning of the Catholic churches. He could not believe the recent pictures on the television of Catholics being burned out of their homes. People who had lived in the area for decades had been terrorised and driven out.
Mr Sam McAutrey (Ind,) said there wasn't much point in condemning those who carried out the burnings; it was those who got them steamed up who should be accountable.
The Leader of the House, Mr Maurice Manning, said the burning of the churches was a new and sinister development. It was one of the worst things that had happened since the troubles started.
THE Equal Status Bill will outlaw discrimination on specified grounds only, the Minister for Equality and Law Reform said.
Mr Taylor said there had been considerable misunderstanding about the effect of the Bill on publicans and other commercial interests. It would not require traders to admit all-comers. It would not prevent business people, in the ordinary day-to-day running of their business, from refusing service to someone because of misconduct, security concerns or lack of hygiene. It would not give any protection whatsoever to troublemakers or anti-social elements.
There had been some concerns expressed by publicans and other traders, he said, and he believed the safeguards he had included would meet these concerns without diluting the Bill's basic objectives.
Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) said the Bill was unconstitutional and would follow the Employment Equality Bill down the road to the Supreme Court for consideration.
The Bill purported, he said, to give schools the right to refuse to admit pupils on the grounds of denomination. "This flies in the face of the right of parents to chose the ethos of their choice for the education of their children, and as such is without a shadow of a doubt unconstitutional."
MEMBERS of Garda associations publicly squabbling on radio yesterday morning was very "unedifying" and gave a very bad impression of the force to the pubic, according to Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind). He asked what was going on between the Garda associations? The whole issue was very confusing to everyone and something should be done to clear the air.
Mr Michael Mulcahy (FF) said people were not interested in the internal wranglings of the gardai. If this continued it could affect the efficient running of the force. The Minister for Justice should come into the House and explain what was going on.
The Leader of the House, Mr Maurice Manning, said he did not know what could be done about gardai arguing in public. If the people involved did not want to sort out their problems there seemed little anyone else could do. He felt it was unedifying to hear such public squabbling and it was not good for the community generally. The spectacle that morning of two Garda representatives arguing on the public airwaves was unseemly.
FIFTH Freedom Rights should be granted to the Russian airline Aeroflot for flights through Shannon to New York, according to Ms Madeleine Taylor-Quinn.
She said that since the removal of the transatlantic international status from Shannon there had been a dramatic expansion and increase of traffic through Dublin, which did not correspond at Shannon. She believed Aeroflot could bring new business through Shannon and into the region.
The Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Dukes, said he was considering the Aeroflot application and its possible implications. It was a complex issue and everything had to be carefully weighed.