Noel Coonan (Fine Gael)

I support my colleagues who asked for a debate with the Minister for Health and Children. It is an urgent matter and a crisis has been reached. I welcome the response from Senator Morrissey and from the distinguished Minister for Defence yesterday in the other House when he acknowledged that a problem exists. It is not good enough for a Minister to acknowledge the problem; the Minister for Health and Children needs to do something about it. He should come before the House to debate the issue and inform us, now that the local elections are over, as to where the Hanly report stands and whether it will be implemented in full.

I ask the Leader to seek an explanation from the Minister for Health and Children as to the reason a ward in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick was closed for a week and patients booted out when there is a crisis in the mid-west region, with thousands of people waiting for a bed in the hospital. They must now put up with the consequences of a ward being closed to facilitate the Bush entourage.