Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

Yesterday we discussed the long Christmas recess. It is a poor reflection on us that this House will adjourn at 2 p.m. today when there are so many pressing issues to be discussed.

We should invite the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government who went to the wrong court during the recess on the Sellafield issue. He also told this House that consumers would not pay extra arising from the WEEE directive on recycling electrical goods. We all know this is not correct.

We should invite him here to explain the nitrates directive which is a major agricultural issue. It has emerged that Teagasc provided the wrong figures. The Minister needs to explain why the directive was signed so quickly, on a Sunday, on bad advice. He should be invited into the House early next week to discuss this issue.

We should also invite the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children into the House because it has emerged that capital funding of €56 million in the Department of Health and Children has been used for current spending. This is a serious development which raises questions about the accounting practice within the Department and has implications for capital projects that might not go ahead in 2006 because of the shortfall. It would be remiss of the House not to deal with those issues urgently early next week.