Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I asked about voting rights for Irish citizens living overseas when I raised the programme for Government commitment on the Constitutional Convention with the Taoiseach yesterday. The Taoiseach told me that the deadline for dealing with the recommendations of the convention was six months. My understanding is that it is four months and the convention's fourth report on Dáil electoral reform makes some very important recommendations. They include increasing minimum constituency size and establishing an independent electoral commission. That was published in August 2013 so that is a long time ago. Can the Taoiseach clarify whether it is six months or four months and when that report on electoral reform will be dealt with?

In respect of the Health Reform Bill, I do not know if the Taoiseach saw the report in The Lancet which said that among other things, there was a direct link between patient risk and staffing cuts. According to Professor Anne Scott who led the Irish arm of the study, "the assumption that hospital nurse staffing can be reduced to save money without adversely affecting patient outcomes may be misguided at best, and fatal at worst." Will this Bill take into account the fact that the safety of patients is decreased and the burden on nurses increased because of cuts and will there be an opportunity to debate that in this Chamber?

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