Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I mean no disrespect to the Minister present. I thought the Tánaiste would be here this morning. The trolley watch in Tallaght Hospital reached an all-time crisis yesterday when 58 patients were accommodated on trolleys.

When will the House receive the Barr report? It is six years since the killing of John Carthy.

On 15 June 2005 Deputy Hogan asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he was satisfied that no person who was disqualified from holding a directorship of a private company was a member of a State board under the auspices of his Department. The Minister replied that he was not aware of any appointees to State boards under the auspices of his Department disqualified from holding a directorship of a private company. The Minister replied in one sentence, saying: "I am not aware of any appointees to State boards under the auspices of my Department currently disqualified from holding a directorship of a private company". I tabled a further question on 28 June, drawing his attention to a person disqualified by the High Court. I wrote to him again, on 1 July 2005, drawing his attention to the appointment to Bord na gCon of a person disqualified from holding a directorship in a private company and to the fact that he had taken representations from six different organisations asking him not to make the said appointment because of the disqualification. However, he proceeded to do so. Will the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, require the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, to set the record straight by saying why he made the decision and whether that person will continue to serve as a director of Bord na gCon?

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