Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I wish to be associated with the best wishes to our Chief Whip, Senator Wilson and to the assistant Chief Whip, Senator Glynn, on their appointment by the Taoiseach. I also congratulate all my colleagues who have been appointed as spokespersons. I wish them well in their responsibilities. We can get down to work in the House now as all the responsibilities have been assigned.

I call on the Leader of the House to have a debate on health issues. I am very concerned about the situation which may develop in County Roscommon. We have accident and emergency cover 24-seven at the moment and this saved the lives of Colm Mee and Paul O'Grady and the young man involved in a serious crash in Hillstreet this morning. I wish to be associated with the sympathies expressed to the family of the bus driver who died as he was bringing 27 students to Carrick-on-Shannon. Without the accident and emergency department in Roscommon hospital, three lives would have been lost in the past two weeks in County Roscommon. This highlights the serious nature of the situation.

The managers of the HSE never propose that any manager be let go, but they propose the reduction of consultant numbers in smaller hospitals——