A lecturer in the Russian department at Trinity College, Dublin, was refused the right to have his wife and child here with him, Mr David Norris (Ind) said when he unsuccessfully sought an emergency debate on the operation of legislation governing immigrants.
The man's predecessor was able to have his wife and children here. The lecturer had a previous position at the University of Glasgow and was allowed to be accompanied by his wife and child. "I just wonder what is going on," said Mr Norris. The Minister for Justice should come to the House to explain how the law was being applied.
Agreeing with Mr Norris, Mr Joe Costello (Lab) said there had been the case of the imprisoned Pakistani businessmen. There was also the question of the Mosney holiday centre which was used for the Community Games. It was going to be confiscated effectively by the Minister for asylum-seekers. That was a very unsatisfactory situation. Issues were arising daily which gave rise to concerns about immigration policy.
Some sort of thermal facilities must be put in place urgently to dispose of all BSE material and other animal wastes, the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Mr Noel Davern, told the House. Without such facilities we would soon be facing environmental and waste management problems of an unprecedented scale, he warned. Difficulties in implementing the EU Commission proposal to ban meat- and bone-meal from all animal feeds for six months should not be underestimated. Around 140,000 tonnes of commercial meat- and bone-meal were produced each year. In the short term, animal waste would have to be processed and stored at a significant cost and the policy represented a major potential risk to the environment.