Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

——not even Deputy Hanafin, had any idea of what was involved in funding the private hospital building programme. Deputy Gormley is now on the record as stating this is not a Progressive Democrat frolic, this is Fianna Fáil policy. If that is the case, it shows the distance that Fianna Fáil has moved in recent times. Deputy Gormley promised in black and white:

The Green Party is making it clear today [in the publication of its health plan] that we will scrap these plans.

There is nothing in the programme for Government about scrapping co-location. In fact, the Minister, Deputy Harney, has already slapped down the Greens, even before the first Cabinet meeting, stating that the extensive co-location plan which she has programmed will continue in full.

If one looks at any other area of the programme for Government, pieced together with the assistance, I presume, of our expert Civil Service, one will find that it is, from the Greens' point of view, a policy-free zone. In the short document the word "review" appears 56 times, the word "examine" appears 23 times and the term "consider" makes 14 appearances. That is the content of this document.

If Deputy Sargent is getting restless on his first day, the last thing I want to do is weary him.

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