Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is the first occasion I have had the opportunity of addressing him and I wish him well in his Department.

In my opinion this Bill will cause the break-up of the health boards. They have been the backbone of the health service which has not always been the best service but there should be political representation on health boards and the proposed political representation may not be sufficient. As chairperson of the Western Health Board, Senator Leyden fought extremely hard for the survival of Roscommon hospital. All politics is local and he ensured that the new accident and emergency department would be built and funded. I thank Senator Leyden for those gestures.