Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)

There is also the issue of the implications for the Good Friday Agreement, with which the former Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O'Donoghue, was involved at the time. Why was there no discussion with the parties in Northern Ireland on the issue? It defies logic that the Government was prepared to discuss the issue in a hurry with the British Government, but was not prepared to discuss the issue with the parties in Northern Ireland. This must cause concern to Fianna Fáil, the republican party that professes to be an all-Ireland party. It was not prepared to talk to its colleagues north of the Border. It is hypocritical and adds to the suspicions of the true intentions of this Government on the referendum. This represents the typical twisting and turning by the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party and the Taoiseach.

If one actually talks to the staff in the Dublin maternity hospitals, rather than inviting them in and spinning what happened afterwards as the Minister did, one would find that many of the non-nationals coming here are actually quite wealthy. When asked why they come to Dublin, they cite the quality of our maternity service as the reason. That will not be addressed by this referendum. No one on the other side of the chamber had the gumption to carry out a survey. The vast majority of those people have never attended an ante-natal clinic and many have major complications. If they are coming here because of the health service it seems sensible that the reason is so that they can have a smooth delivery. That puts huge additional demands on our health services. That problem will not be addressed by this Bill.

Take the case of a woman in her 41st week of pregnancy. She arrives at Dublin Airport from Lagos via France, with her two children, a 16-month old boy and a two and a half year old boy. Why did she come here? She is a well-educated wealthy woman. The reason is the health service, as she told staff in one of the Dublin maternity hospitals. Many of them finish up in the UK afterwards, not in Ireland.

In such cases the children must be made wards of court while the mother is in the maternity hospital. The vast majority of such women coming here are 38 to 40 weeks pregnant. Hospital staff are being told the reason they leave it so late before coming is that they will be moved to other parts of the country if they arrive earlier. They do not want this because they believe the quality of service available in Dublin is second to none. Many Irish women travel to Dublin to have their babies.

Why are the airlines carrying these people into this country? Many Irish women are refused permission to travel by airlines even though their term of pregnancy is relatively short, and despite having doctors' letters certifying they can travel. Yet the airlines have no difficulty in bringing people half way around the world and dumping them here in Ireland. Why has the penny never dropped for the Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, who is jumping like a butterfly all over the place about bus deregulation, penalty points etc? The Minister, who could fill this room with all his press statements, has never commented on this issue. It just shows how incompetent this Government is and why we cannot address simple problems. The only explanation for this being discussed in the House today is politicking, not a serious attempt to address the specific issue.

On 30 September last I tabled a question in the House asking the Minister for Health and Children to indicate the sums of money sought by each health board to deal with the issue of asylum seekers and the additional demand they were putting on the health services. I asked how much of that money was actually furnished to the health boards. The reply is not one cent so it is a big issue with the Government and has been for the last two years. The Tánaiste said the Government had been examining this matter, yet it is not worth one cent so far as the health services are concerned. Enormous additional demands are being placed on the health services as regards maternity, blood screening, respiratory services etc. These services are being demanded and are required by asylum seekers, not necessarily people who come into this country at the last minute, but those who are resident here and who are applicants for asylum. Not one cent has been given by the Minister for Health and Children to the health boards to address this problem.

Take the experience in two hospitals with which I am familiar. Some 11% of births in University College Hospital Galway are to asylum seekers. This legislation would do nothing to address that 11% birth rate because we do not have direct flights from any of these countries, be it France or Nigeria, into Galway airport. The same applies to Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe. There is no airport near that hospital. The problem will not be solved by this referendum. There are significant additional demands for maternity services. The Western Health Board has sought additional funding from the Department of Health and Children but has received nothing. The same health board has sought additional funds for the community and acute services because of the additional demands. It has received nothing under this heading either from the Department. None of these problems is going to be solved by this referendum.

It is estimated that it costs approximately €13 million per annum to deal with the 22,500 asylum seekers in this country at present. This does not take tourists into account. The legislation before us will do absolutely nothing to address the situation.

The reality is that this is another blind pulled by a pathetic Government over the chaotic health service that exists in this country. In the same way as the introduction of the smoking ban was intended to divert attention away from the crumbling state of our health services, the proposed referendum is to again hide the scandal that no funding has been provided to deal with the additional demands caused by asylum seekers.

If the Government is genuine about achieving cross-party support, it should accept the amendment put forward by Members on this side of the House and refer the issue to the All-Party Committee on the Constitution, with a mandate to report by 1 September, so that we may have a referendum before the end of the year.

This debate is not evidence that the Government wants to address the problem. It is pure politicking. I was listening to the Tánaiste yesterday when she was being interviewed about the legislation being debated today. The Government has been aware of the problem for a considerable time. She said it had been included in An Agreed Programme for Government. If it has been such a burning priority for Government over the last two years, why has there been no consultation, either with the parties in this House or those north of the Border? Why has no additional funding been provided for the maternity hospitals in this State? Many of the maternity hospitals are being run on a shoestring at the moment due to the lack of resources and the additional demands they face from asylum seekers who are resident in Ireland, quite apart from the tourists who come here. Why has there been no action by the Minister for Transport? If there is a significant problem with women coming into this country who are 38 to 40 weeks pregnant, why have the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health and Children and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform not mentioned it in this Chamber and sought to put regulations in place? The reason is that this is not a Government priority. It is just being used to deliver seats in the local elections. The Government parties know they will be annihilated if they do not bring forward this referendum.

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