Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak to this issue. As somebody who has been a Member of Seanad and Dáil Éireann, I am delighted to be back. I thank the people of the constituency of Sligo-Leitrim, including those in west Cavan and south Donegal, for ensuring my return. I welcome the reform being proposed as every one of the 158 people elected to the House should be - and in fairness are - treated with respect. It is important that every one of us has the opportunity to raise the issues of the day, particularly national matters, affecting our areas. Ironically, during today's nominations for Taoiseach, Deputies Adams and Boyd Barrett raised a very important issue for my constituency. This is the queuing of ambulances outside Sligo general hospital. That has happened before and I know there were nine ambulances queued outside the hospital three weeks ago. Only for this debate on Dáil reform, I would not have the opportunity even to mention that. As a representative for a constituency, whether a Deputy is on the Government or Opposition side, from a small or large party or Independent, a Member should be entitled to raise the issue of the day affecting the people whom they represent. That is very important.

I wish the 17 people on the committee well in their deliberations. When these issues must be raised, there should be a Minister present to give some answer on how problems can be solved. There is no easy solution to the problem of people waiting on trolleys in hospitals but as a backbench Deputy, my opinion is that if the carer's allowance application process could be dealt with more sympathetically and quickly, rather than people waiting eight or ten months for answers, we would not have our current problems in the hospitals. It is sad that this must be examined.

Everybody in the Chamber has his or her idea about how to improve matters but we do not get the opportunity to express those ideas, unfortunately. I welcome anything that could relieve that problem, whether the issue in question relates to agriculture, health or education. We must have somebody to answer the questions we raise on behalf of our constituents. People have said they take issue with the prayer being said before we start the business. I do not see anything wrong with a prayer, which is a reflection before we start very important work in dealing with the issues affecting the country.

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