The Order of Business is No. 1, motion of referral to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform re the proceeds of the sale of the State's shareholding in Aer Lingus, to be taken without debate at the conclusion of the Order of Business; No. 2, motion re Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis, to be taken without debate at the conclusion of No. 1; and No. 3, Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015 - Order for Second Stage and Second Stage, to be taken at 5 p.m. and conclude not later than 7 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the contributions of group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes and those of all other Senators not to exceed five minutes and the Minister to be called on to reply to the debate not later than 6.50 p.m.

On No. 2, I hate to tell members of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, "I told you so," but there was no way the banking inquiry committee was going to be able to do its work within the set time and many Members agreed with me at the time.

It was a collective "We told you so."

It was. I do not know how this will fit in with the general election which it is proposed will take place between now and then. It might all be done for nothing.

I cannot agree with No. 1 being taken without debate. It relates to the disbursement of the funds from the sale of the Government stake in Aer Lingus, to the tune of €335,272,000.

The Senator can come back to us and we can have a debate on it.

I am aware that I can do that, but I have used every opportunity to argue against what has happened to the retired and deferred pensioners in the Irish aviation superannuation scheme, the airport pensioners, many of whom have lost up to 60% of their pensions. All of the retired members, people in their 70s, 80s and 90s, have lost six weeks pay and are taking a case to the European court, having lodged a case on account of the fact that their basic pension rights have been torn up by the Government. Using part of the proceeds of the sale would go a long way to reducing the level of cuts facing the retired members, represented by RASA, and the deferred members, many of whom have sent e-mails to colleagues in this House in the past couple of days detailing their circumstances. Some of them have paid into their pension scheme for 42 years, but they have now been butchered to permit the sale of the Government's stake in Aer Lingus. It was a divi-up purely to get rid of the deficit in the pension scheme to sell to IAG. That has been done and the Government has moved 5,000 existing members of the scheme into an inferior pension scheme and cut the benefits for the other 10,000 substantially.

At every opportunity available to me I will argue that we should not have sold the 25% stake, but now that the Government has done it, it is not prohibited from finding other funds to make a payment which would reduce the level of cuts suffered by retired and deferred members of the IASS scheme. For that reason, I oppose taking No. 1 without debate. It is important that the Seanad's voice is heard on the issue prior to it being referred to the committee and that ideas on the use of the funds should come from the Seanad. That is what I want.

My colleagues and I in Fianna Fáil will oppose taking No. 1 today without debate. We should have a debate, for which the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, should come to the House.

Does the Senator wish to propose an amendment?

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, come to the House to explain what, if any, steps he is taking to reduce the savage cuts foisted on the retired and deferred pension members of the Irish airlines superannuation scheme. Furthermore, I ask him to take on board the views of the Seanad on the use of the proceeds of the sale of the Government’s stake in Aer Lingus. The Leader can fit this in at the bottom of the stream.

Many of us raised the issue of the timescale for the banking inquiry when the matter was brought before the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. The Chairman of the inquiry committee acknowledged that the date might be pushed back.

I welcome the announcement over the weekend that the Labour Party wouls propose a candidate in the Seanad by-election, following the very regrettable retirement of our colleague and friend Jimmy Harte. It is welcome that we have announced that we will propose Máiría Cahill who is a really fine and wonderful candidate. I know that my colleagues join me in that welcome.

I welcome the Startup Gathering. On Monday a series of over 400 events in five cities over five days started, led by the not-for-profit group Startup Ireland, supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, with the sponsorship of Bank of Ireland. I commend the Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Gerald Nash, who chairs the steering committee of the Startup Gathering and wish them well in making progress on the Action Plan for Jobs arising from this welcome initiative. I hope we will have an opportunity soon to again debate the Action Plan for Jobs and the concept of the Startup Gathering and the events that will have taken place.

Will the Leader arrange a debate soon on the role of the Data Protection Commissioner and the issue of digital privacy following today’s judgment by the European Court of Justice in the action taken by Max Schrems in the case against Facebook? This is a very significant judgment and Senators are aware of the lead-up to it. The Austrian privacy campaigner Max Schrems initially took a case in the Irish courts and then to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg against the safe harbour agreement, the data transfer agreement between the European Commission and the United States. He won his challenge today. There will be a press conference this afternoon hosted by the Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, on the implications of the judgment for the European Union. It will also have implications for Ireland. The matter is being remitted to the High Court The Data Protection Commissioner has welcomed the move and the clarity offered by the European Court of Justice. It has implications for the overall issue of data sharing between the European Union and the United STate. I would like us to have a debate on it when the matter has been dealt with in the High Court.

I strongly condemn the dreadful attack on Kunduz Hospital in Afghanistan in which staff of Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF, and patients were killed. There were approximately 22 people killed, apparently in a US airstrike. I join others in calling for a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances of what MSF has described as a war crime.

I congratulate the Nobel Prize winner William Campbell, a native of Ramelton, County Donegal. He studied at Campbell College, Belfast, and Trinity College Dublin where he graduated in zoology in 1952. His work and that of his colleague Professor Satoshi Omura has been praised by the Minister for Health because they developed medicines to kill parasites and have been active in promoting the sale of low-priced drugs for Third World countries. I presume this will be celebrated in both places. There is no need to change the name of Campbell College to celebrate the Nobel Prize winner. Trinity College Dublin gave him an honorary degree two years ago; therefore, somebody on the committee was fairly good at anticipating great developments.

Professor Campbell begins each lecture, no matter where in the world he delivers it, with a slide of The Mall, Ramelton, to remind him and the audience of where he comes from. I also found that humility with Ernest Walton who was especially concerned, in his time as a Nobel Prize winner, with the fact that physics was not taught widely in girls' schools and, therefore, provided extra tuition. There is a humility in both Noble Prize winners, which is commendable. Our Nobel Prize winner is aged 85 years and, therefore, will support Senator John Crown's Bill to abolish the retirement age. Let us hope we are all winning Nobel Prizes at that age.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is not just a trade deal, as it addresses environmental and labour considerations, including International Labour Organization standards, minimum wage requirements, and ensures they are actionable within the terms of trade. That is a huge advance on traditional trade agreements and something we might note in future agreements involving this country.

With regard to the banking inquiry, we might have made the timetable, but the whistleblower required the absorption of the secretariat in dealing with the whistleblower investigation, but I hope the report will be worth waiting for in January, given the additional time required.