I join in the words of congratulation to former Senator Deirdre Clune on her election to the European Parliament.

I also welcome the imminent appointment of Mr. Kevin O'Malley as the US ambassador to Ireland. It is regrettable that it took 18 months for this appointment to be made, given the relationship between this island and the United States.

I congratulate Senator Barrett and Senator MacSharry on their appointment to the banking inquiry. They will be excellent representatives of this House and that inquiry is of great importance in addressing the crisis in the Irish banking sector. I join my colleagues in hoping the Government will accept the democratic decision of the Committee of Selection to appoint Senators MacSharry and Barrett and I commend the Leader of the House on ensuring this House will have two representatives on the inquiry.

I hope there is not a recurrence of what happened previously when some Government Senators did not toe the line on the so-called Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill. I do not blame the Leader of the House personally, but on that occasion he was instructed by the Government to suspend Standing Order 89, remove committee members and replace them with others without any input by the democratically elected Committee of Selection. The Government parties allowed this to happen. On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party, I am putting the Leader of the House on notice that if he attempts to do so again we will not co-operate in the running of this House. I am sad that I had to say this but I feel it is only fair to give warning that our party will not co-operate with the smooth running of business in this House. This is not for party political reasons, it is for democratic reasons and in the interests of democracy.

I again commend both Senator MacSharry and Senator Barrett and I second Senator Bradford's proposed amendment to the Order of Business.

I congratulate Senator MacSharry and Senator Barrett on their appointment by the Committee of Selection last night. I presume the Clerk of the Seanad has notified the clerk of the banking inquiry of the appointments by the Seanad. Senator Bradford is correct that there is no requirement for the Seanad to approve or not approve this decision as that job has been done. There will be a different set-up to other committees as it will be governed by the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Act, which makes specific statutory reference to our Standing Orders. The Act says Standing Orders must be put in place within 50 days of the passing of the Act. This has been done and I assume our existing Standing Orders, which are now governed by statute, are included.

The banking inquiry was set up by a resolution of this House that specifically refers to Standing Order 89 and appointment by the Committee of Selection. The Standing Order refers to the Committee of Selection doing its job of appointing two Members and last night the Committee of Selection complied with the resolution of the House by appointing two Members to the banking inquiry.

I would not like to be the lawyer in the Office of the Attorney General who must examine this. This is a highly complex matter and the Government would be best to leave things alone. The reaction I have heard from the public suggests they do not wish for any perception of bias or interference by the Government in appointing members to the inquiry. The members appointed to the banking inquiry last night were appointed in accordance with the law. As far as I am concerned they are now members of the banking inquiry and I wish them every success and good luck in their work.