Seanad report: Leader of the House Mary O'Rourke said she would not be attending yesterday's meeting of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs because the US ambassador had insisted the meeting be held in private.
"It's extraordinary that he should decide or demand - demand is the word - that we would all meet in private to talk to him. I just can't understand it," said Ms O'Rourke, who is one of 17 members of the committee.
Brendan Ryan (Lab) said he found it astonishing that the official representative in this State of the country that was launching a crusade to expand democracy and freedom around the world would only talk to our parliament in private.
David Norris (Ind) said he would be raising with the ambassador the scandalous American operation under which people were snatched and transported to "third countries" where they were tortured, sometimes to death.
Mr Norris said there was clear evidence that Shannon airport was involved. Airport logs demonstrated that on several occasions Shannon was used during the abduction operation.
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Minister for Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue was accused by Maurice Cummins (FG) of supporting gambling by children.
The Minister told the House that he was unable to give his backing to a Fine Gael Private Members' Bill which sought to amend the 1929 Totalisator Act, to prevent the Tote from accepting bets from persons under 18 years of age.
Arguing in favour of the amendment, Mr Cummins said he had spoken to many parents and adults whose lives had been destroyed by gambling and most, if not all of them, had started by having a bet on the Tote as a child.
The Minister said that those under 18 attending race meetings did so under the accompaniment and control of their parents and, as such, would also invest with the Tote in a controlled, social environment. The normal investment by such people was of the order of €1 on selected pools.