David Norris (Independent)

I am glad Senator O'Toole raised the question of human rights in China. Like America, China is an empire that denies being an empire. It invaded, annexed and colonised Tibet in 1959. Now it has brought the railway that will complete the cultural genocide. For the reason Senator O'Toole mentioned, because we have dollar signs in our eyes, nobody utters a squeak. I raised the question of the Falun Gong. There is no doubt that prisoners are kept on death row as a living organ bank. An order is placed in Japan or the US and organs are harvested while the prisoners are alive. I am glad the Canadian Senate has taken up this matter and we should do so too.

As other Senators have remarked, there is a problem with our health service. From the continuous but gentle and reasonable interventions of Senator Henry we realised we were not getting reports. The lives of cystic fibrosis patients, which could be extended, are not being extended. None of us has seen the European survey, except perhaps the Leader, although we have read about it in the newspapers. It is astonishing that they would send an e-mail and not repeat the dose. I am not sure who is in the wrong, the Department or the people looking for the information. I was concerned to hear a spokesperson for the IMO yesterday saying she is not surprised because it is impossible to extract information, that since the reorganisation under the HSE nobody knows who is responsible for what, there is no directory and one can never find what person is dealing with a situation.

This is an administrative problem and a scandal in a situation where, as we have discovered, a large number of administrators were windfall beneficiaries of increases that will raise their salaries over €100,000. In view of the reorganisation there is much duplication. That is not satisfactory and we could have a rolling debate on the health services, as we have had on Iraq. Although we have had a number of debates and the Leader and Tánaiste have been helpful, it is important we examine this situation.

I raised the question of the children's hospital when it first emerged and the call by specialists for an international peer review, which would have taken only three weeks, and this was denied. Senator Ross raised the special position of the Adelaide Hospital last week, and that is a significant issue because guarantees were given there when the charter was incorporated some ten years ago, and they have not been lived up to. The hospital has been underfunded and the cast-iron guarantees that were given on a children's unit being continued have been abrogated unilaterally. It is important that we bring these matters before the House for a full discussion.