I realise time is short with the Easter recess approaching, but an urgent debate is required on the insolvency guidelines and how they will be dealt with by the personal insolvency service. There are mixed messages from Government and very worrying reports in the media. At the weekend, one newspaper indicated that women would be forced to give up their work if child care could not be afforded. On Monday the Taoiseach said, "I would find it quite incredible that somebody will say 'You are required to give up work in order to meet these charges'." That gave some hope and solace to the many women throughout the country who were concerned after reading about this in the Sunday newspapers, only for that to be dashed by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport saying clearly that women who were not in a position to pay for child care would have to give up their jobs.

We think this is fundamentally wrong. It is reminiscent of a day when women who were blessed with pregnancy were forced to leave the Civil Service. Women cannot help but wonder what the plan is within the Government in terms of assisting women in the workforce. We have had cuts to child care, the taxation of maternity benefit and now the suggestion that someone who cannot afford child care must give up her job, with a senior Minister contradicting the Taoiseach on it. One wonders what is next. Are we to take the vote off women altogether? This is worrying and in the interests of the women of Ireland, we must have a debate in order to have clarity on the issue because we cannot have senior Ministers and the Taoiseach contradicting each other on it. I do not think it is appropriate either that a Government should set up an insolvency service that would preside over a situation whereby women would be forced to stay at home rather than being supported in the workforce through the provision of the necessary child care, which I imagine the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs would like to see, given that she has indicated she would like to see the provision of a second free preschool year. She should press ahead with that as a matter of urgency rather than the reports we have seen in recent days suggesting women will have to give up work.

There are reports today, following the conference of the AGSI where a number of members walked out as a protest, that those members might have disciplinary action taken against them. That would be highly regrettable. Members of the Garda have limited tools at their disposal to highlight the difficulties they have at any one time. Surely within the confines of their own conference, they should be entitled to register their protest in such a peaceful and meaningful way. I would regret very much if the Garda Commissioner felt it necessary to take disciplinary action against those members.

I would also like to begin by paying tribute to Jimmy Walsh on the occasion of his retirement this week. With most other Senators, I attended the wonderful event yesterday to celebrate his distinguished career.

The Leader referred to his excellent shorthand skills, his many experiences and the great distinction with which he covered the Seanad. He also covered many other events, including the visits of President Kennedy, which he spoke about graphically, and President Reagan, which he spoke about with eloquence and wit. Jimmy's reports are noted for being honest, accurate and impartial and Senators will agree that his reporting has done the Seanad and the institution of Leinster House a great service. He provided a fair account of the proceedings, which are often overlooked by other newspapers and media outlets. All of us will miss his regular reporting and the wit and banter we experience when we bump into him on a corridor. He is a true raconteur and gentleman and I will miss him greatly. I express this tribute to him on my behalf and on behalf of the Labour Party group. I express also my gratitude to him for the long service he has given in reporting on the Seanad. I wish him and his family well on his retirement and what will be, I hope, the next stage in a very distinguished career. We would all welcome the publication of a memoir detailing some of his experiences and recounting some anecdotes for the greater enjoyment of the public. I thank Jimmy very much.

I welcome the launch today of the report on penal reform by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. I was the rapporteur for the Sub-committee on Penal Reform, which spent 18 months examining how best to reform the prison system. It examined, in particular, end-of-sentence strategies and how to ensure greater rehabilitation of prisoners. We finished the report in February and it was adopted unanimously by the full joint committee. Launched this morning, the report makes five practical, sensible and credible recommendations for improving the penal system, in particular, the adoption by government of a decarceration strategy to reduce prisoner numbers and penal system's reliance on prison. I ask that the Minister for Justice and Equality come before the House for a debate on the report now that it has been published. While the joint committee will also engage with the Minister as it seeks to have the report's recommendations implemented, the document should also be debated in the Seanad, especially given the active role a number of colleagues, including the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Senators Conway and Zappone, played on the sub-committee in producing it. Such a debate would be good.

The draft insolvency guidelines have been the subject of media reporting. Writing in The Sunday Business Post, Niamh Connolly raised the concern that the draft guidelines suggest that people who are paying for child care should give up jobs if their child care costs are higher than their income. I strongly disagree with any suggestion by any insolvency service or Minister that any man or woman should have to give up work for this reason. Senator van Turnhout spoke about the value of early childhood education and its importance to children. It would be wrong to suggest that insolvency guidelines would force people to give up work. No parent should be required to do this. It would be an utterly short-sighted approach given that while child care costs are especially high for preschool children, as I know from personal experience, they reduce substantially when a child begins school. It would be short-sighted for a parent to give up work on the basis that his or her income would be only slightly more or even slightly less than the cost of child care for a short number of years. Long-term careers and employment are much more valuable than this. The idea that someone would be forced to give up work on that basis is wrong.

On behalf of the Independent group of Senators, I pay tribute to and thank Jimmy Walsh. As I will have only been a Member for two years in May next, my memories of Jimmy do not go back as far as those of other speakers. However, I used to read Jimmy's accounts of Seanad proceedings before I entered the Oireachtas and had the opportunity to meet the legend. I thank him most sincerely for his advice and the insights he gave me in the corridors of Leinster House. His journalistic skills are clear. He is able to get to the heart of an issue and understand what speakers are driving at. He has given me great encouragement in my work as a Senator, including, on occasion, to press a little harder on certain issues as perhaps I seek consensus a little too much. We will, however, leave that issue for another discussion. Even in the relatively short time I have known Jimmy, I feel I have made a real friend, someone who will give critical advice but also explain in his newspaper articles what takes place in the House. I echo the tributes paid to him.

The issues of insolvency and early childhood education and care must be decoupled. The latter is about the child, not the status of his or her parents or whether they are working. We need to decouple these issues and discuss them separately.

On the issue of direct provision, last Saturday The Irish Times featured an excellent article by Breda O'Brien under the title "Inhumane asylum seeker system needs radical reform". A letter by Dr. Joan Giller in today's edition of the same newspaper is a must-read for all of us as it provides a marvellously accurate account of the harrowing system of direct provision offered in this country. Given that Dr. Giller has worked in direct provision accommodation since 2007, her comments are not hearsay. I have raised the issue of direct provision several times, primarily on the Adjournment, and recently took it upon myself to visit the direct provision accommodation in Hatch Hall as well as a site in Athlone located behind a Department of Education and Skills building which houses 100 mobile homes for asylum seekers. I was accompanied by Senators Fiach Mac Conghail and Katherine Zappone.

I refer to the work done on this issue by a group of committed Senators from all parties and none. As such, this not a party political issue. I call on the Leader to arrange a debate on the system of direct provision, in particular, to address the appropriateness of direct provision for the welfare and development of the 1,725 children who have been in the system not for one or two months but several years. When we speak of institutionalising people, we should not forget this is being done now. I call for the establishment of an independent complaints mechanism and inspection system for direct provision centres. The Government's Special Rapporteur on Child Protection called for such a system to be introduced one year ago. Let us debate and face up to this issue as it can no longer be tolerated. Will we wait for another 20 years to have another Ryan report published, this time on direct provision?

One of the most pleasant functions to have taken place in the House occurred yesterday when many of us saluted the great stalwart, Jimmy Walsh, in the private dining room. I salute the fine words spoken by colleagues in tribute to Jimmy. Yesterday's function was proper, correct, fitting and very nice. It was ably chaired by Fionnan Sheahan who was a wonderful master of ceremonies. Stephen Collins, Michael O'Regan, the Cathaoirleach and Senators Cummins and Quinn related wonderful stories and anecdotes. I hope their words were recorded. We heard contributions about Jimmy's accuracy, superb note-taking and wonderful shorthand, all of which are true. His service to the House started more than 40 years ago in The Irish Press. I loved the story told by Michael O'Regan about Frank Aiken's funeral when all the Haugheyites were lined up on one side and all the Colleyites on the other. Whatever the arrangements were, the press corps deputed Jimmy, as the accurate note taker, to approach Mr. Haughey with the awkward questions about the arrangements and what Mr. Colley - God be good to both men - was to do. Jimmy, who was well known to Mr. Haughey from his role in the Oireachtas, approached and asked the question and Mr. Haughey bent his head and looked at Jimmy through hooded eyes.

Mr. Haughey, who knew Jimmy well, said "Who the - expletive deleted - are you?" Michael O'Regan noted that this was not reported by the press at the time but today, as he pointed out, it would have been emblazoned in full technicolour on the front page of several newspapers, with nothing left out. Mr. O'Regan went on to wonder how The Irish Times would report such an incident today and suggested that it might record that Mr. Haughey declined to comment, in colourful language. They were great stories and anecdotes and I hope that they are recorded, somehow. We have all enjoyed many a cup of tea in the bar with Jimmy Walsh over the years. I was delighted he was presented with lifetime membership and will continue to come in here among us, for as long as we are here. He made a joke himself about whether the Seanad or Jimmy Walsh would be abolished first. He should record the anecdotes and stories, some of which he told yesterday and many more of which he did not have time to tell us. I wish him long life and happiness.

I acknowledge the appreciation and time given to Jimmy Walsh but I do not want everyone to speak for four or five minutes on it.

It is remarkable how every time I stand up, the person in the Chair prefaces my remarks by expressing the hope that Senators will not speak for too long.

I was admonishing Senator Paul Coghlan for the length of his contribution but I was happy to give a certain amount of latitude him because he is almost the father of the House.

Absolutely and, unlike the Pope, the Leas-Chathaoirleach is always infallible in my book.

While I said a few words about Jimmy Walsh last week, I welcome the opportunity to say good things about him again today when he is actually in the Chamber. In a degraded profession, he has maintained extremely high standards. We must value the meticulousness with which he recorded the doings of this House and his brave, long and sometimes difficult fight to keep the paper of record on track in terms of recording the business of this House. When I entered the Seanad 25 years ago, it was regularly covered by a panel of reporters from The Irish Times and the business of the Seanad was given considerable coverage in all of the national newspapers, including the Irish Independent, The Irish Press and so forth but now it is treated as a matter of no significance. On "Oireachtas Report", for example, coverage of the Seanad is shunted to the very end, after coverage of the various Oireachtas committees, which is wrong.

The suggestion that Jimmy Walsh should become Senator Walsh is not a bad one at all because there is a vacancy and there may be another one if Senator Thomas Byrne wins a seat in the Dáil. The seat of former Senator Martin McAleese is vacant. Jimmy Walsh was always very careful not to show any bias and provided a meticulous and clear recording of what happened in this House. However, from personal conversations I have had with him, I know the values Jimmy has, which are humane, decent values of integrity. He believes very strongly in human rights on an international, as well as national, level. He would, through his political experience and his values, add very considerably to this House.

I also strongly support the suggestion that he should write a book. However, I do not think it should just be about anecdotes because there is far more to Jimmy Walsh than funny stories and entertaining quips. There is a substantial intellect there that parses and analyses affairs at a national and international level. He has much wisdom and insight, which for reasons of professionalism he often kept outside his reports. It would be very good to have the real Jimmy Walsh stand up and share his values, which are so necessary in this day and age.

Moving on to other matters, I wish to refer to the issue of child care. The situation is very clear in this regard. The cost of child care in this country is completely outrageous and ridiculous. The fact that people must pay more than their mortgage every month to have their children looked after is mad. Somebody should look at the cost of child care provision, which is the nub of the matter.

The main issue I wish to raise has been signalled previously to some of my colleagues and to the Leader. Last week I referred to the lack of solidarity being shown by the highest in the land and I believe it is important that the Seanad plays a role in this regard. We should be imaginative and do something to demonstrate clearly and publicly that the members of this House are in sympathy with the sufferings of the people. In that context, I propose that Seanad Éireann moves its sitting for at least one day in the next term to a town like Athlone, which is in the centre of the country and is readily accessible for all Senators. I suggest that Senators come to Dublin and then travel by bus to Athlone and hold a session there. We should formally open Seanad proceedings there and also engage in an exercise of listening to the people. I would suggest that we then go and see the people in the situations in which they find themselves, whether that be a soup kitchen or an employment agency, so that we can have a real connection with the people. This is not precluded by anything in the Constitution or the rules of this House but has never been done by either House. We, in Parliament, are seen as remote from the people. I respectfully ask the Leader to set an inquiry in motion to determine how this can be done. It would require proper preparation, including holding discussions with the relevant county council. It would be useful if we could use the offices of the county council in Athlone for this purpose. This would get press coverage and would make us accessible to the public. Having made this suggestion, I would be very interested to hear if my colleagues would support this idea and if the Leader is in a position to advance it.

I am sure Jimmy Walsh must be pinching himself to see whether he is still alive or listening to his own eulogy. I thank him for everything.

I wish to relay some good news which even the Opposition will welcome. Yesterday, in Boston, a young man called Ronan Kelly won the Irish Dance World Championship for the third year in a row. On his way to becoming world champion, he won the Irish and Scottish championships. He is the son of our colleague, Senator John Kelly, and I have a picture here of him receiving his world cup yesterday in Boston. It is fantastic-----

Senators are not allowed to display printed material in the House. I am being very lenient on the Order of Business in allowing the Senator to congratulate someone but-----

Having done it, I apologise.

That might be a cynical apology.