Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I hope you will be as generous to me, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, when I go over my time. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Harney, back to the House and thank her for giving three hours of her time today. Whenever she is asked to come to the House, she never sends a Minister of State but instead comes herself. That is an indication of the way she is perceived in her Ministry and how she takes responsibility for her portfolio.

I said last week that I hoped this debate would get away from all the talk about Professor Crown, the Late Late Show and so on but I will refer to it briefly because it was mentioned by the main spokesperson for Fine Gael. RTE came out last week and, in clear language, said that the programme would not have been balanced if Professor Crown had appeared along with the other three people. It was left to RTE to decide who it would drop from the programme and on its own merit it dropped Professor Crown. In hindsight I am delighted Professor Crown was dropped because I had heard him two mornings prior to that on the Pat Kenny show and I do not mind saying that the way he personalised his remarks about the party of the Minister, Deputy Harney, was a disgrace. He was appalling because in my view he was only having a go at the Progressive Democrats and did not come up with any solutions regarding cancer care. I am glad he was the one dropped from the show and replaced by another oncologist.

We are here to discuss cancer services.