Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

——which might have to be changed anyway based on the next census, at a time when the people of the country have many other concerns. The head of the HSE told us yesterday there might be further cases of cancer misdiagnosis. People are losing their jobs. There are people whose homes and businesses were flooded during the month of August in bizarre weather. There is no end to the things the House could and should be debating.

If it is the Government's view that the House should talk about legislation, where is the nursing homes legislation? There are families out there who are driven demented by the fact that they cannot get subventions and they do not know how they will pay the nursing home bills, yet no nursing home legislation is ordered. People living in apartments are waiting for legislation, promised by the Taoiseach some time ago, to regulate the management companies that govern them. The Civil Partnership Bill was promised but has not appeared. There is the employment regulation legislation that we have asked for so many times. More than a year after the formation of the Government, it is surely not too soon to expect legislation on carbon emissions to be brought before the House for debate. There is no end of legislative initiatives that the House could be debating. The programme for this week is the product of a Government that is burnt out and that has become lazy and incompetent. It has nothing to offer the House and nothing to offer the people of this country.

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