Seanad:David Norris (Ind) said he feared that the apology tendered by the Taoiseach to the Magdalene women was in danger of being undermined.

Officials in the Department of Justice had apparently cast doubt as to whether some of these people should be included in a new redress scheme as they had already benefited from another one related to time spent in industrial schools. “The logic of this is odd. If you are injured in two successive car crashes separated by seven years you would expect, rightly, to be compensated for both.”

Seanad deputy leader Ivana Bacik (Lab) said she had every confidence that Mr Justice Quirke would ensure fairness in terms of applications for the Magdalene redress scheme, because it would be most unfair if people were to be excluded in relation to periods they had endured in industrial schools. Women who had been subjected to forced labour in Magdalene institutions should be specifically compensated for that ordeal.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (SF) took issue with a claim by Terry Leyden (FF) that Romanian nationals or Roma people had been involved in the theft of 10,000 cigarettes from a supermarket in Carrick-on-Shannon last Monday. Rural Ireland was under assault by criminals at a time when there was an industrial dispute involving gardaí, Mr Leyden contended.

Cathaoirleach Paddy Burke (FG) queried whether Mr Leyden should be making claims about members of an ethnic group when no one had been convicted in this instance.

A Fine Gael member asked the leader of the House to intervene with the Minister for Defence and the Army authorities to enable an Irish peacekeeper in Lebanon to participate in a match in Croke Park next Sunday.

Michael Mullins said the team from his home town of Ballinasloe was in danger of being without a star player in the all-Ireland club final involving the Kerry champions Kenmare.