The Leader intends to take No. 1 which deals with the disbursement of the proceeds of the sale of the State's shareholding in Aer Lingus which amount to €335,272,562.50.

I raised this matter before it was referred to the committee and asked that a commitment be given that when it was referred back from it, a debate would be held on it because the very reason the State had this money was that it had robbed Aer Lingus, Dublin Airport and former SR Technics pensioners and pension fund members, 15,000 of whom effectively and arbitrarily had had their pension entitlements cut. Many Members will know, particularly colleagues in the Labour Party who had given them promises that they would deal with this issue and reneged on these promises-----

On a point of order, is it correct to say somebody - a Government or anybody else - robbed something?

As long as a person is not named. Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition might be a little more selective.

Let me put it this way. If I was to get €100 at the end of next week, as promised by my employer and underwritten by the State in legislation, and the State then passed a law to take back €40 of that €100 from me, without my consent, I would call it robbery.

So would I.

That is what it is.

I would call it pilferage.

Will Senator Darragh O'Brien, please, make his point in order that we can move on?

More than 5,000 retired members, people in their 70s, 80s and 90s, who worked for Aer Lingus, the Dublin Airport Authority and SR Technics, or Team Aer Lingus, as it was, have had six weeks pay taken from them. There are also deferred members of long-standing. A man I met last night who is due to retire and draw his pension later this year after 42 years service has had a 48% cut to his pension entitlement. The Tánaiste gave indications last year that she would, in some way, shape or form, move towards reducing these cuts and a number of Labour Party members at the Labour Party conference actually signed a motion to look for fairness in this regard, but they have reneged on this completely and utterly. I do not think anyone in the House can say, in any way, shape or form, that what has happened to airport pension scheme members, IASS members, is fair or equitable. The reason the Government did it was simply to write off the debt in the pension scheme before it sold Aer Lingus. Therefore, the reason the State has €335 million-plus is it robbed the airport pension scheme members; it is as simple as that.

I asked last week, when the Government referred the matter to the committee, that when it was referred back, that we debate it in order that I would be able to debate it with the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, to see if there was any way the Government would look at reducing the level of cuts, which have been absolutely scandalous, for this group of workers and retired members. It had never happened before in the history of the State that a profitable company was allowed to run down its pension scheme. Complicit in this was the legislation brought forward by the Government to enable it to happen. I am, therefore, proposing an amendment to the Order of Business that No. 1 be taken with debate. What does the Minister have to hide? Let him come here and tell us what he is going to do. He has an extra €335 million that he wants to put into a connectivity fund, whatever the hell that is, but it is not acceptable to take the matter without debate. I will be pushing the amendment to a vote.

On another very serious matter, the report issued today on the assessment of paramilitary activity, with a particular focus on the role of the Provisional IRA, as currently constituted in the Sinn Féin movement, will the Leader ensure we are given time to read the report and debate in the Seanad, given the implications for democracy, both in the Republic and the North of Ireland?