SEANAD:PASCHAL MOONEY (FF) said he did not believe people would give their consent to the proposed property tax. Sounding "a note of warning" to the Government side of the House, he said a significant part of the population had refused to comply with the household charge.

His party believed it was not right to bring in a property tax at a time when 40,000 young people were emigrating, almost half-amillion people were unemployed and essential frontline services were being withdrawn.

Mr Mooney said he was amazed at the silence from Government benches about decisions by local authorities to inhibit access to student grants where the household charge had not been paid.

Seanad leader Maurice Cummins (FG) said any grant could not be partially withheld from a student because his or her parent or guardian was liable for the household charge and had failed to pay it.

Catherine Noone (FG) said she welcomed the support given by Fianna Fail and Sinn Féin for the children’s rights referendum wording. However, she was concerned about the implications of the McKenna judgment requirement that media organisations give equal coverage to both sides of the argument. She hoped that RTÉ and other media organisations would exercise “editorial discretion” to make sure the referendum campaign did not give a voice to naysayers on the No side whose main motivation was to raise their own profile.

Ronan Mullen (Ind) said he felt a real effort was being made to honour the position of children in our society.