Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I support my colleague, Senator Ryan, in regard to the number of amendments which have come before us this morning. I am concerned at the speed at which it appears we are being forced to deal with them. Will the Leader consider a temporary amendment to Standing Orders to allow us to deal with the Bills section by section? There are 62 amendments to the Protection of the Environment Bill, some of which are comprehensive and propose to make major changes to the Bill as presented to the House some weeks ago. It is difficult to adequately examine those amendments as we are entitled to and should do.

I support the comments in regard to the Freedom of Information Act and the charges for requests. I hope the Government takes on board the views of the Information Commissioner on this matter, although I suspect it will not. I note, in his report on prisons, that Mr. Justice Kinlen stated that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform seems to have difficulty dealing with the Freedom of Information Act, a fact which was obvious from early on.

I strongly support the requests of Senator Henry and Senator Finucane for a close examination of the supply and availability of nurses, particularly at ICU level. We have clear evidence of the problem and a warning of a pending crisis. Are we going to stand by and let this happen or will we do something about it? This is an issue to which we must return as a matter of urgency at the earliest available opportunity.