Mary Henry (Independent)

Senator Minihan's words must be supported by all Members. I support all those who have called for a debate on rendition flights through Shannon Airport. The Marty report presents a serious issue for the State.

I have two issues on which I ask the Acting Leader to invite the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children to address in the House. The first concerns the abuse of alcohol by young people. Every year the director of the sexual assault unit at the Rotunda Hospital claims that in 60% of the cases of rape or sexual assault presented at the hospital the individuals concerned are drunk. I want the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children to explain why the Government has abandoned its policy regarding drink and young people. The advertising code is to be brought forward by the drinks industry on a voluntary basis and not in the manner recommended by the expert report the Department produced.

Second, in Tuesday's edition of The Irish Times a letter by ten orthopaedic surgeons at Tallaght Hospital was published. They claimed that, between the ten of them, they only have access to 20 beds for elective surgery. Over the past several years I have been repeatedly contacted by surgeons and anaesthetists about the cancelling of elective operations because there were not enough beds for patients. This is a terrible waste of time and money. The National Treatment Purchase Fund brings the same patients to private hospitals for operations while publicly paid surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses stand beside empty operating theatres because there are no public beds for these patients. It is a shocking waste of money.

It is mad that the National Treatment Purchase Fund does not allow public hospitals to tender for more than 10% of its work. We cannot find out what fees are being charged by these private hospitals for the various operations because the fund claims it is commercially sensitive information. Yet we are all paying for this. It is crazy that medical professionals — surgeons, anaesthetist and nurses — are willing to work but cannot because there are no beds. The same patients are being taken to private hospitals where there are beds for which the taxpayer pays.

The payments being made by the National Treatment Purchase Fund to the private hospitals for various operations must be explored. We must ensure these operations are done at public hospitals, which we are funding and the facilities of which are sitting idle.