Vol. 179 Thursday, No. 4 3 February 2005 DI´OSPO´ IREACHTAI´ PARLAIMINTE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES SEANAD E´ IREANN TUAIRISC OIFIGIU´ IL—Neamhcheartaithe (OFFICIAL REPORT—Unrevised) Thursday, 3 February 2005. Business of Seanad ………………………………257 Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy ……………………257 Order of Business …………………………………262 Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage ………………273 Future Development of An Post: Statements ………………………301 Adjournment Matters: Hazardous Waste ………………………………337 Waste Disposal ………………………………341 Educational Disadvantage ……………………………344 257 258 SEANAD E´ IREANN pany. He was well known in artistic circles in Dublin. I note that he left his whole collection to ———— the Irish Museum of Modern Art when he became ill. It has great praise for Gordon De´ardaoin, 3 Feabhra 2005. Lambert and the collection he left it. Thursday, 3 February 2005. Perhaps I can be allowed make a small col- loquial remembrance of him. For many years my ———— late husband worked in Jacobs and he wrote to Gordon Lambert when I was first seeking to Chuaigh an Cathaoirleach i gceannas ar become a Member of the Seanad because Gor- 10.30 a.m. don Lambert had interviewed him for the job. One particular morning during that campaign I ———— got a telephone call and Gordon Lambert, who had just been into the offices of the Seanad and Paidir. cast his vote, said, “I do not know what other Prayer. votes you are going to get, Mary, but this morning you got a No. 1 vote on the cultural and edu- ———— cational panel.” As the House can imagine he was a very kind man. Business of Seanad. Mr. Minihan: He also had a good sense of An Cathaoirleach: I have received notice from judgment. Senator O’Meara that, on the motion for the Adjournment of the House today, she proposes Ms O’Rourke: He had a great sense of judge- to raise the following matter: ment. I subsequently went on to get that seat by The need for the Minister for Health and a pure fluke because I was on the inside panel. Children to order an urgent study into the syn- ergistic effect on human health of the heavy (Interruptions). metal and chemicals coming from the eroded surface of the tailings pond at Gortmore, Sil- Ms O’Rourke: What are all the Members vermines, County Tipperary. saying? I have also received notice from Senator Henry Mr. Minihan: It is lack of judgment. of the following matter: The need for the Minister for the Envir- Ms O’Rourke: The usual suspects are laughing onment, Heritage and Local Government to during a vote of sympathy. outline the procedures by which unreusable An Cathaoirleach: It is in order to tell the tyres are to be disposed. House about your first vote. I have also received notice from Senator Browne of the following matter: Ms O’Rourke: Thank you very much. We all have reminiscence of that. He has a wider family The need for the Minister for Education and to whom we convey our sympathies and thank for Science to outline the reason no plans have his years of service when called upon by the then been advanced for a new school for children Taoiseach to take his place in the House. with Autism in Carlow Town, County Carlow. I regard the matters raised by Senators as suitable Mr. B. Hayes: On behalf of the Fine Gael for discussion on the Adjournment and they will group I express our sympathy to the wider be taken at the conclusion of business. Lambert family who are a well-known, well- respected Dublin family of many generations, on the untimely passing of former Senator Gordon Death of Former Member: Expressions of Lambert. Unlike the Leader, he never voted for Sympathy. me. I never knew him. From speaking with Ms O’Rourke: I wish to express my sympathy people from those times he made a worthwhile and that of my party, on the recent death of Gor- contribution to the House during the four years don Lambert, who had been a Member for four of his membership from 1977 to 1981. It was a years and had been appointed by the then great testament to the then Taoiseach, Jack Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, following the 1977 gen- Lynch, who decided to appoint him to the House eral election. He was a cultured, eminent gentle- at that time. man and was kind as well. Having asked some- Gordon Lambert was an independently minded body to look at the debates, it is clear he person. I understand he was an Independent contributed greatly to cultural and education Member in the House. He was a person who had matters when they were being debated. We would a huge business acumen. The Leader has rightly all know of him through Jacobs because for many referred to his connections with Jacobs’ Biscuits, years he was the head of the Jacob’s Biscuit Com- which was in the heart of my Dublin South-West 259 Death of Former Member: 3 February 2005. Expressions of Sympathy 260 [Mr. B. Hayes.] Andrews to stage the TV awards show which constituency. I understand he was one of the became the Jacobs TV awards. They were orig- instigators behind the Jacobs awards, which has inally held in the Jacobs factory in the city centre been significant in terms of amateur dramatics and I remember attending. When the factory was and persons with a particular interest in music being renovated, the show was staged in venues and he should be remembered for that. Senator in Cork, Galway and Limerick. Those of us who Coghlan has informed me he was the man who were recipients of the hospitality from Jacobs invented the slogan, “he put the fig in the fig remember him as a man who loved to entertain. roll”. He was great fun but also the sort of man who enriched everyone he met because of his joy and Ms O’Rourke: He was. interest in everything he did. He came from a sporting family. His brother, Mr. B. Hayes: I am not sure about that but I Ham — short for Hamilton — and to whom I will bow to his superior knowledge on this sub- spoke yesterday, is a young man who will not be ject. It is only right and proper that the House 95 until next month. Ham played cricket and remembers his contribution to public life. Clearly rugby for Ireland and was a professional rugby he was someone whom Mr. Lynch regarded as a player. He told me that Gordon had inherited this person with a considerable knowledge of the arts love of sport but was never as active as himself. and of business. I am sure his contributions His desire for privacy was evident in that prior greatly added to the work of the House. Today to his death, which occurred last Thursday, he the House records his passing. I wish to express asked that it should not be announced until a my sympathies to the wider Lambert family. private family funeral service had taken place. It is hoped that a public ceremony will take place at Mr. Quinn: I speak today on behalf of the Inde- a later date. pendent Members but I also speak on behalf of He was appointed by Jack Lynch to the Seanad Senator Ross who was a friend of Gordon and played a very active role particularly in Lambert. I knew Gordon very well and had matters of culture and the arts. He is the sort of known him since the 1960s. If the term “Renaiss- man one would like to think of as representing ance Man” means anything, he was exactly that the membership of Seanad E´ ireann. sort of man. His mother was one of the Mitchell family of wine merchants and it was from her he Mr. Ryan: Listening to the Leader I am inherited the art collection to which he added in reminded of the notion in chaos theory that a but- later years. Given his background, he had a great terfly in the Amazonian jungle can change the interest in both wine and in art. He was on the weather here. It is clear that a single No. 1 vote, board of the National Gallery of Ireland during cast in 1981, had a fairly profound subsequent the 1970s and later on the board of the Irish effect on Irish politics. We can all make an impact Museum of Modern Art of which he became a and Gordon Lambert had a huge impact. patron. As the Leader stated, he donated his col- I have a passing interest in and enjoy modern lection to that museum. With David Hendricks, art. I believe his contribution in that area to the he formed the Hendricks Gallery. His activity in richness of Irish life of itself would make him that area was well-recognised and renowned. somebody to be publicly mourned. It was an He also had a background in accountancy and imaginative decision by Jack Lynch to appoint was a very efficient accountant. He was educated somebody like Gordon Lambert in what was a in Russell Schools in Lancashire. He told me, and very different Ireland. He is one of a number of also recounted it on a radio programme, that distinguished appointees, such as a current while there he became accustomed to having a appointee, Senator Maurice Hayes, who add a cold shower every morning and continued that considerable amount to our debates and whose practice for the rest of his life. I did my best to contributions are heeded by the Government.