Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

Senator Brian Hayes, the Leader of the Opposition, proposed an amendment to the Order of Business to discuss the current situation in accident and emergency departments. He said he heard the debate on it in the House. I also heard it when I was travelling here and I heard the person of whom he spoke. His amendment was seconded by several people.

Senator O'Toole said the extended application of the Freedom of Information Acts relates to the discussions on benchmarking, the verification bodies and the material they received. I thank him for elaborating on that issue. I meant to refer to it when I was speaking. He then said that given that funding for school buildings was not included in Sustaining Progress, members of any trade union were entitled to raise the issue and to speak about it.