Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Could we get an update on the children's hospital on the St. James's campus and the satellite centres at Blanchardstown and Tallaght? When will construction works begin and, more importantly, when might they finish?

I have heard people talk about crowding in accident and emergency departments. I heard the Minister speaking in the Seanad last month and he talked about a minor injuries unit in Smithfield, Dublin. We have one in Loughlinstown hospital, which is also very under-used. How can you get that message out to people - to go to the minor injuries units rather than ending up in some other very crowded accident and emergency department?

Could the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, talk to her colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, about the difficulty regarding speech therapy for young children, especially those with Down's syndrome and, within that cohort, those who are diagnosed as mild? This is also the case for children with autism. If children go to an ordinary primary school they do not get speech therapy, whereas those who go to special schools do. It is very unfair. Perhaps the Minister of State could talk to the Minister for Education and Skills about whether speech therapy could be delivered in a primary school setting rather than in health centres, because at least the teachers know who the children are and they are in school every day. Many of them miss appointments in the health service, and months go by without the children receiving that therapy.

Finally, I congratulate the Minister on the public health (alcohol) Bill. We have been talking so much here about overcrowding in hospitals. We know that 2,000 beds are taken up every night in our hospitals by people who are addicted to alcohol.