Joe O'Toole (Independent)

The report on the health service is really agitating people around the country. The question raised by Senator Brian Hayes needs to be asked. The Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, stated that this report was based on out of date information and the author of the report stated that the Department refused access to information. Somebody must answer for that. It is quite appalling. To the disinterested observer looking at this calmly and unemotionally, we cannot just accept that decision and we should know who took it.

The other issue to be noted from the report, apart from Ireland's appalling results, is that the authors stated quite clearly that in their view the position of public and private sectors working together was the wrong way to go. That supports what the Tánaiste is trying to achieve and she should just go ahead and do it. Second, direct access to consultants was dealt with quite clearly in the report. If we are to use this report, let us use it positively and also ask the questions, move matters forward and get the results we seek.

I rith na seachtaine seo caite, chuireadh tuarascáil nua ar fáil. It related to the state of the Irish language and how it has disimproved. It is well past time we had the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, in here to tell us cad tá go díreach ar siúl aige chun an Ghaeilge a chothú i measc na gnáth daoine. I have stated time and again that his policies are in no way directed towards ordinary people with ordinary problems, ach de réir deamhramh b'fhearr leis a bheith ag dul timpeall na háite ag aistriú ainmneacha áiteanna i gcoinne toill na daoine, upsetting people around the country agus ag chuir breo ar muintir tionscalaíochta na tíre chun tuarascáilí cheann bliana a chuir ar fáil i nGaeilge. These matters might be important, but the real issue is the one I have been raising here since the day I was elected, that we need to support the Gaeltacht. In this situation, we see that there is a threat to the Irish language in Gaeltacht schools and in the Gaeltacht. Although this might be hard to believe, Gaeltacht schools which are dealing with people from all sorts of backgrounds — immigrants, people without Irish who have returned home from other countries, etc. — have a lower pupil-teacher ratio than gaelscoileanna. Gaelscoileanna are entitled to what they have, but it surely is a nonsense that we are not giving support do scoileanna sna Gaeltachtaí, foinse na Gaeilge, áit gur chóir gach tacaíocht a thabhairt do na muinteoirí, tuismitheoirí agus na húdaráis scoileanna. I want the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to come in here. If he does, I ask the Leader to ask him that, unlike what he did in the other House, he come in with a script and with an idea, which we can discuss and with which he will deal seriously. I ask that he would listen seriously to and engage with our viewpoints. His actions are quite appalling and he is upsetting many people. This Government wonders why it is in trouble. It is because of Ministers running riot like that, upsetting half the industries in the country which are trying to meet his requirements and upsetting Gaeltacht people who do not need to be upset. These are the bushfires around the country that are upsetting this Government.