Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá cúpla ceist agam faoi the health information and patient safety Bill, the public sector standards Bill and the planning Bill. I understand the public sector standards Bill and the planning Bill were brought before the Cabinet today. The public sector standards Bill deals with the replacement of the Standards in Public Office Commission. The objective of the planning Bill is to establish a so-called independent regulator, but, in this case, the regulator is to be answerable to the Minister. An Teachta Brian Stanley has published a planning and development (amendment) Bill today to provide for genuinely independent planning regulation. While I do not have any expectation that the Government will support the Bill, nonetheless, it highlights the serious flaws in the Government's Bill. Were the public sector standards Bill and the planning Bill considered this morning and, if so, when will they be published?

Last week I raised with the Taoiseach the Government's failure to publish a report on breaches of planning rules in six councils, a report which has been sitting on the desk of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government since July. The review was set up almost three years ago after the former Minister, Mr. Phil Hogan, had scrapped planned inquiries into planning irregularities. When will the report be published? If it is published before the Christmas recess which seems unlikely, may we have a debate on it, if not before Christmas then at the first available opportunity after the Dáil resumes in January?

The purpose of the health information and patient safety Bill is to legislate for better governance in respect of health information and patient safety. I recently met the mothers of a number of young women who had received the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil. I understand that last night TV3 broadcast a distressing documentary on the health consequences for almost 140 young women who had received the vaccine. The mothers I met had had great difficulty in obtaining information, which is why I am raising the issue. The health information and patient safety Bill will make it easier for citizens to obtain all the knowledge they deserve to have. I understand the European Medical Agency has cleared the vaccine for use, but it is equally clear that a substantial number of young women and their parents attribute their illness to it.

When will the Bill be published? Allowing for the Ceann Comhairle's latitude, will the Taoiseach consider meeting the organisation, REGRET, which represents the young women concerned and their parents?

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