Seanad debates

Thursday, 12 June 2003

10:30 am

Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

I join in the support for Senator Brian Hayes's call for a debate on neutrality. Niall Andrews, MEP, must be admired for what he said because he spoke in the context of the Second World War and the present situation, and we all know things have dramatically changed since. Unless we redefine what we mean by neutrality, ours will be seen as an à la carte approach. There are many people who felt during the recent conflict in Iraq that we breached our neutrality on the Shannon issue. Leaving that aside, if we want to be part of modern Europe and if we want to be involved rather than to adopt an "I stepped in and I stepped out again" approach, it is important for us to have a role. It is timely that we should debate the issue.

I am surprised at what my colleague, Senator Higgins, stated regarding scanning GAA matches. Any of us who attend matches will know that there is no necessity for that. When has one ever seen any crowd violence at matches? Recently I attended a thrilling game between Waterford and Limerick which was filled with emotion and drama. One never sees crazy crowd scenes at matches. It is a waste of Garda resources. In fact, having scanned the recent matches in Croke Park, perhaps there is an over-deployment of Garda resources at many of these big matches. One could deploy the scarce resources more effectively.

An issue which I have raised many times in this House is the radiotherapy report. The report has been finalised for some time. It has been leaked that it will recommend the provision of radiotherapy services in centres of excellence in Dublin, Cork and Galway. It looks as if Waterford and Limerick will be left out. As I have stated in the past on the Adjournment, in our area the Government is disadvantaging about 350,000 who will not have a proper radiotherapy facility in the area. This is a considerable inconvenience to people, who must travel to St. Luke's Hospital in Dublin.

It would cost approximately €1 million next year to finance a radiotherapy facility in the Regional Hospital in Limerick. The area is available and planning permission has been received, etc. Like other areas, we demand and should get that service and we should not be treated as second-class citizens.

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