Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

The Supreme Court gave a ruling this week on the so-called baby Ann case and there has been much public comment on it. There is an issue at the heart of the case about the rights of children, including the question of a constitutional amendment. Can we have an opportunity to debate the issues arising from the Supreme Court judgement in advance of the publication of the proposed wording of that amendment? A consultation process has begun on this with the non-governmental organisation sector, but we could provide a valuable contribution to the debate if we had an opportunity to discuss the issue in this House.

I asked the Leader some time ago to schedule a debate on youth mental health issues. Has she had an opportunity to do this? I raised a number of these issues with her. I would also like to her to schedule a debate on hospital policy in this House with the Minister for Health and Children in light of remarks by the Minister in a meeting with representatives from Monaghan. There is one representative from that area in this House. She told them that it was the policy of the Government to implement the Teamwork report, which is a replacement for the Hanly report. This will see the closure of the hospital in Monaghan and the downgrading of acute services there, but it will also see the closure of acute and emergency services in small hospitals throughout the country.