I am also afraid that the apparent or alleged surveillance of the Garda Ombudsman's office may turn out to be a bag of wind or a bottle of smoke. I am inclined to agree with Senator Bacik that until there is much more clarity and detail - and, at a minimum, until we hear the Minister's statement and until we establish whether there has been bugging - we should not go near the issue. We would only be adding to the wind, as I would see it.

The Senator should speak for himself.

We all regret that we are not sitting on Thursdays, but the Leader has explained the reasons several times.

Imagine if the referendum had been carried.

Until we have concrete business, we should not be adding to the wind on Thursdays. Senators all have good representational and other work to be dealing with and they may get on with it. Many Senators want to spend more time in their alleged constituencies than in this House, so let us get on with the work and not be adding to the wind.

I hope the Senator is not looking at me.

That is Killarney calling north Dublin black.

I hope it is Killarney being as objective as ever.

Aontaím leis an Seanadóir Ó Clochartaigh. Níl aon amhras faoi ná gur duine éifeachtach agus cumasach é Rónán Ó Domhnaill agus guím gach rath ar an obair a bheidh idir láimhe aige mar Choimisinéir Teanga nua. Ach fós, tá ceisteanna le freagairt, ceisteanna a d'ardaigh an iar-Coimisinéir Teanga, Seán Ó Cuirreáin. Is ceisteanna bunúsacha iad sin, maidir le stádas na Gaeilge agus cur chun cinn na Gaeilge, go mórmhór cur chun cinn na Gaeilge sa státcóras. Más rud é nach bhfuil na hoifigigh, fostaithe nó daoine ann chun seirbhís a chur ar fáil, seirbhís atá leagtha síos sa straitéis, ní féidir dul chun cinn a dhéanamh.

Dúirt mé anseo cheana go bhfuil súil agam nach mbeidh aon pholaitíocht ag baint leis an gceist seo. Thug mé faoi ndeara anseo sa Seanad go raibh gach éinne thar a bheith sásta comhoibriú le chéile maidir le cur chun cinn na Gaeilge agus sin mar ba chóir é a bheith. Bheadh sé an-cabhrach agus Seachtain na Gaeilge ag teacht, dá bhféadfadh muid ceis na Gaeilge a phlé arís agus seans a thabhairt do dhaoine níos mó eolais a fháil maidir leis na ceisteanna atá i gceist.

There is an opportunity for the Seanad to play a central role in the issues and controversies that have arisen on the Coimisinéir Teanga and also straitéis 20 bliain na Gaeilge. There is not a Member in this Chamber who does not feel a sense of ownership where the strategy is concerned. I can remember the debates which took place. They were totally separate from politics. It was about the importance of the language and the love we all have for the language and the richness of the language. It is not just a St. Patrick’s Day syndrome or a seachtain na Gaeilge syndrome; it is our national language. If we were discussing issues such as those that have arisen from the controversy on the Coimisinéir Teanga, they would be at the top of our priority list. Perhaps the Leader would arrange in the coming weeks an opportunity for the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy McGinley, to come to the House and to put a lot of the controversial issues to bed once and for all.

I share the concerns others have raised at the apparent bugging of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission’s, GSOC, office. It has a serious role to play. If anyone has deliberately set out to cause damage to its activity then they will have questions to answer and must be held accountable. How we do that is a matter of debate in this House and elsewhere. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions. We have a role to play. Parliament has the right to ask questions to try to establish what happened. At this point, whether there is a need for an independent inquiry remains to be seen but the fact that GSOC is coming readily to the committee tomorrow is a good sign. I will ask the Garda Commissioner to also come back before the committee because there is so much confusion and so many remarks have been made in the public arena that it is the right place for it to be sorted out, and it would be welcome for the Garda Commissioner to have his opportunity to speak in a fair and clear manner. While it remains to be seen, it may well be the case that we need also to have a debate in this House on the matter.

In fact, the matters Senator Norris raised, have also been raised with the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions last week. We will look into those matters. Perhaps I might be able to have a word with him on the issue afterwards.

It is important that we have a full independent inquiry into the alleged bugging of the office of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. I was out and about in Galway yesterday and there is much public concern. While the appropriate word might not be “dodgy”, there is certainly a lot of doubt. Questions are being asked about what type of country we are living in and what type of culture this is. We thought we had gone away from that but serious doubts have been raised about penalty points and top-ups. All that is feeding into doubt. I take cognisance of what others have said. We might need to pursue the issue further following tomorrow’s session with the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission in the committee.

The Leader will know that I tabled an item for discussion on the Adjournment today but the Cathaoirleach ruled it out of order. I was seeking a debate on Irish Water, with seven questions to be answered. From next September, every householder in this country will be billed for water, with payment starting next January. The Cathaoirleach ruled my adjournment matter out of order on the basis that it should form part of a substantive debate. In that context, I ask the Leader to agree to a substantive debate on Irish Water. Questions remain unanswered concerning staff numbers, bonus payments, pensions, obsolete metering and the carrying out of a cost-benefit analysis. We also need to know why the Siemens bid to install meters for €800 million, without an up-front payment, was rejected. These issues are of enormous public concern. I ask the Leader to schedule that debate because the issues arising now were unknown to us at the time of our previous debate on Irish Water.

As the justice spokesperson for Fine Gael in this House, I am, like many others, very concerned about what was revealed on Sunday concerning the Garda Ombudsman Commission. To be quite frank, I was most disappointed to hear the statement from the Chairman of the Garda Ombudsman Commission on the evening news yesterday. I felt sorry for rank and file gardaí with the mention of the Garda in the statement. The Chairman would have been well advised to refrain from commenting until after the Cabinet meeting today. Members of the Garda Síochána all over the country are upset. At least one of the Garda representative bodies has now called on the Chairman to resign. He certainly needs to respond to the Garda Commissioner, Mr. Callinan and clarify exactly what he meant by his comment. Clarity is needed urgently because rank and file gardaí all over the country are very upset. Whether it was the Chairman's intention or not, gardaí have taken offence. In everybody's interests and as a matter of urgency, the statement needs to be clarified.