Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The nursing homes legislation is due this session. The hospital Bill will be ready in the summer and will be taken in the autumn session. We do not have a date for the legislation relating to the register of persons who are considered unsafe to work with children. The Departments of Education and Science and Health and Children have been in discussions about the establishment of pre-employment consultancy services. That legislation has been caught up in the North-South Ministerial Council. I have raised the matter with the council and with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to try to move it on. However, we do not have a definite date for its progress.

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