Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)

I support the call for a debate on suicide and I concur with Senator O'Meara that the debate should be measured, balanced and informed. Suicide is a serious issue and even in my county, which is rural and which has a population of less than 50,000, there were seven suicides in ten days recently. It causes major frustration in communities because people do not know what to say or do about it. All parties should join together to draw up a cohesive plan to address this ever increasing problem.

I called for a debate on value for money in Government spending two weeks ago. My call was supported by the "Prime Time" exposé last Monday night, which highlighted that vast sums of taxpayers' money is being wasted on various projects. The money would be better spent on additional hospital beds, new schools and so on. However, we should debate this serious issue, which needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.