Brendan Ryan (Labour)

The Irish language is the property of the people and not the property of one party or even one family. Actions are being taken to advance the image of grandfather reincarnated, which are doing the language great harm. The best thing that could be done is to ensure that in respect of every school atá ag iarraidh múineadh as Gaeilge go bhfuil téacsleabhair ar fáil acu gur féidir a úsáid in ionad an bhrú atá ar scoileanna lán-Ghaelach i ndáiríre sna Gaeltachta ábhair a mhúineadh as Béarla toisc nach bhfuil téacsleabhair as Gaeilge ar fáil acu. It is a simple issue and it would not cost more than it costs the Department of Finance to publish the Estimates as Gaeilge to provide decent textbooks in Irish. Publishers are capable of doing this and it would be a much better use of resources.

It is tempting to say a great deal about the league table, which outlines the abysmal performance of our health service. I would like, however, to discuss an issue I have raised on the Order of Business a few times and about which I have become more and more concerned. I heard the interview recorded by the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children for "Morning Ireland" earlier. She declined to appear on the programme and, instead, chose to go on the "News at One", which has 300,000 fewer listeners. Perhaps somebody can explain that logic if she wants to defend her reforms. The Minister asserted this morning that Ireland is spending as much on its health services as Germany and France.

The top four countries in the league table come as no surprise. The most convincing aspect of the table is that the countries that one knows have a good health service are at the top and, therefore, it is difficult to argue the methodology is wrong. The top four countries spend US$2,800 on average per head while Ireland spends 25% less. One does not have to be a health economist, a liberal market economist or a Marxist economist to realise that is an indicator of a problem. Ireland is trying to rebuild a health service that almost fell apart. The other countries have mature, well developed health services and they are spending enough to keep them running. The Government is trying to say it can provide a world class health service for the people on a budget 25% lower than those of the best health services in the world, which have good hospitals and which do not need the capital investment required here. I am horrified that the Minister for Health and Children informed the public that Ireland spends as much as these countries. Either she does not know or she will not say but not enough is being spent. We need to move away from the eternal incantation of the Minister that it is all about efficiencies and delivery. We should have an efficient health service but it most assuredly is not all about efficiency and, therefore, I would like the Minister to grace us with her presence to explain how she believes enough is being spent on health services.

Another report published recently highlighted, unsurprisingly, that the very rich pay virtually no tax. That is linked to the extraordinary revelation of the salary of the chief executive of one of our two main banks. I would like a debate on the apparent extraordinary quality of our bankers who believe if they are not paid that much, they will be stolen by major international banks. Perhaps Senator Ross can list all the Irish bankers who have emigrated because I am at a loss to recall one.