Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

Senator Brian Hayes, the Leader of the Opposition, spoke about Private Members' business last night, regarding which I apologised to the Cathaoirleach on all our behalves. He asked for the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, to come to discuss the proliferation of accidents on the Luas lines, saying that there should be better signage and policing between now and Christmas. His point is well made, since every time one sees a Luas tram, it is packed with people. One can imagine, coming up to Christmas, how much busier it will get. There are many cities in Europe and other places where there are trams on the street that share space with cars. They seem to be able to manage their business, but they have had them for far longer than we have. It is up to those in cars to drive carefully when approaching the points where they cross over track. We are trying to get the Minister for Transport to come to the House and that will be one of the issues we will ask him to address. Senator Henry also mentioned the Luas difficulty and raised the matter of unaccompanied minors, a problem that is increasing.

Senator McCarthy raised the SSIA scheme yesterday. Now he has raised medical cards, which will also be affected. I presume he means the income eligibility limits for medical card holders or those seeking them. He wants a debate on the perceived distancing of the EPA from decision-making and its impartiality. The Senator also sought a debate with the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, on flood relief and one on traffic penalties, since 43% of people expect never to receive a penalty through being stopped on the road.

Senator Morrissey raised the lack of signage on Luas, saying that a major campaign of awareness for those on the road was needed. Senator Terry asked what was happening in Mountjoy Prison, its training unit and the women's prison. We will ask the Minister, who is always keen to come to this House and does so quite regularly, to come to the House to discuss the matter. Senator O'Brien mentioned Monaghan hospital, making the point very clearly that the previous Minister had allocated money to enable Monaghan to come on stream again — I believe the terminology is "on call"— and highlighting the particularly sad case of the sick man who had to go to Cavan because he could not be brought to Monaghan.

We are all very happy that, as Senator Norris said, 6,000 years later, we are all still here.