Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I heard on radio that there was a scandal in Britain where a school in England had to send its pupils home early because it could not afford to pay the teachers. Does that not sound familiar to something happening in the health service in Ireland? We read that the Mater Hospital will cut another 180 posts. We had a debate on this issue recently but not that long ago that we cannot again debate hospital closures and what is happening in the health service. The State has a responsibility towards the safety of its citizens, especially their health. A scandal is occurring in the health service. The Minister for Health and Children should attend debates in the House on this issue on a much more regular basis in which he could inform us if he has some plans for and hope of overcoming the problem of the closure of hospital beds and avoiding outrageous situations such as the death in hospital of a person who had been lying on a trolley for four or five days. That is a scandal. We should debate the state of the health service on a regular basis.

I asked for a debate yesterday on road deaths. Listening to Senator Ryan speak about juggernauts reminded me of when I was in the Middle East recently. I discovered that, if a person's car exceeds the speed limit, a little siren attached to it lets people know that person has exceeded the speed limit. Whatever about juggernauts, it certainly could apply here. I do not know if it is possible to introduce legislation in this regard but it is something that would assist in dealing with the outrageous problem of road deaths caused by speeding motorists.