Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I support Senator Leyden in his call for a debate on the health services, especially the point he made regarding political accountability for such services, which has now been passed to Professor Drumm. When the issue is raised, the Minister of the day almost has political immunity from being responsible for health services. On its creation, the Health Service Executive was supposed to be a beacon of hope for the many thousands of people who wished to access services, but it has only been a bureaucratic and administrative nightmare.

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to the House to explain the comprehensive dossier sent to the European Commission last Friday in response to a request relating to the local needs restriction affecting planning permissions which is contained in many local development plans. Initially, the local needs restriction just referred to one-off rural housing, but the same restriction is now being used with estate development. This is a serious issue as it may breach European rules on movement and freedom of capital.

The Minister was asked to comment on the content of the comprehensive dossier returned to the Commission last Friday but he has refused to do so. That is very unfortunate. The matter of one-off rural housing, planning and associated issues has been debated at length in this House over the last five years, with many fine contributions from all sides of the House.

Deputy Dick Roche, when he was Minister in the Department, at least began to act on one-off rural housing and easing that type of restriction on local authorities through the introduction of guidelines. They were not strong enough in my view but it was nonetheless a start. Now, his successor is refusing to comment on the content of a very comprehensive dossier returned to the Commission last Friday.