Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask about the Immigration Residence and Protection Bill 2010, the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2013 and the health reform Bill, which I will deal with first. There were 518 patients on trolleys in hospitals across the State yesterday, including in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, which had 30. Today there are 40 on trolleys there and the overall figure is 511. This is the seventh highest number since the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, started keeping records. When will the health reform Bill be published? Will the Bill include provisions to deliver the recommendations of the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, which I have raised before and which has not been implemented.

The Immigration Residence and Protection Bill 2010 sets out the legislative framework for the management of inward migration to this State. I raised this with the Taoiseach last week. There are 4,000 asylum seekers. We are both agreed that our people, who have been forced to emigrate, should be treated properly yet I have seen at first hand the hardship of asylum seekers. Can the Taoiseach confirm the progress of this Bill? Has the Government met with groups such as the Irish Refugee Council and Nasc which have made numerous criticisms of the Bill?

Yesterday the Minister for Health published the heads of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2013 but he did not publish a date for it to be brought forward. The interest and advocacy groups and people who are concerned about the hazardous consumption of alcohol and the culture of binge drinking have given it a cautious welcome. The Government had a view on the sports organisations, and the Minister for Health claimed yesterday that there was support for a ban on alcohol sponsorship of sporting events but it appears this will not be in the Bill. Can the Taoiseach confirm or clarify whether it will be in the Bill?

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