Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for that response. One is impressed at the number of sub-committees the Taoiseach has established. What interaction takes place between those sub-committees? One suspects there is a degree of overlap between the operation of the Economic Management Council, the sub-committee on economic recovery and jobs and the sub-committee on mortgage arrears.

The Taoiseach previously indicated to the House that the Economic Management Council was seriously addressing the issue of mortgage arrears, yet we recently heard from Ms Fiona Muldoon of the Central Bank that the performance of the Irish banking sector is far from ideal or satisfactory. Ms Muldoon, strangely, described the Irish banks as acting like teenagers.

Does the Taoiseach share the concern of this side of the House that far too little is being done about the personal debt and mortgage problem? Some 23% of mortgage holders are either in arrears or have had their mortgages restructured following consultations with the banks. About 167,000 Irish families or individuals are affected.

One lauds the work done by the Minister for Justice and Equality on the Personal Insolvency Bill, but I suspect the Taoiseach would agree that the Bill on its own is not enough to solve the major problems that confront Irish mortgage holders and that the Government, through these committees, needs to be far more active in bringing forward solutions for mortgage holders, whether in Mayo, Dublin West, Kildare or wherever, and in offering some solution to families that are inordinately hard pressed by personal debt.

Was it within its terms of reference for the sub-committee on health to consider the controversial issues of primary care centres or the national children's hospital? We welcome today's decision by the Cabinet to select the St. James's Hospital site. We will be keenly interested to see the background studies that led to this decision. I am sure the Government will be publishing the Dolphin report which will give us an understanding of the reasons behind the choice of that location. We were also interested to learn that the Tánaiste saw fit to get his own advice on that initiative. Was the Tánaiste in a position to bring his personal advice to the sub-committee on health? Was he able to bring his advisers to those meetings to participate in the process?

The European section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been moved to the Taoiseach's own Department. Nevertheless, questions to the Taoiseach on matters relating to Europe are automatically transferred to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. We have yet to see a major policy statement from the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste or the Government on reform of the European Union. Last week, the Taoiseach said, with regard to treaty changes and the budget, that his policy was to wait and see what comes up. When might the House hear a definitive statement on Ireland's vision for the development of the EU budget and reform of the European Union?

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