Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

What function do Members have if they cannot get straightforward answers to the questions they raise?

Refusals by a Minister to address issues raised in the House and the avoidance of ministerial responsibility will bite back later. If it is not dealt with in the first instance, it will be dealt with later when it becomes a scandal and there is an inquiry into it. Will Ministers recognise, to protect themselves and the country, that ministerial responsibility, particularly in the health services, must be taken?

I suspect I have not much time left as the Ceann Comhairle is looking at me with a kind of jaundiced look.

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