Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I also wish to refer to the Portlaoise report. Looking at it from a disinterested point of view in terms of trying to take the patient and emotion out of it, extraordinary questions must be asked on both sides of the House about the process. This is not a matter solely for the Opposition benches. I do not want to make this into a political issue. However, I want to know how the risk register was applied to Portlaoise hospital. What was supposed to be happening there and what was not? What were the key performance indicators required for that area? I want to know if people's bonuses was tied into it. Were there mid-year reviews? How could it happen that people were using out-of-date equipment? Management must take responsibility for that. Someone in management was aware and decided to use out-of-date equipment. We need to know why and who these people are.

I am interested in the Portlaoise case not because it has been dealt with badly but because I want to know about the rest of the system and how it is run. Can we have a discussion on how the health system is run, without referring to any particular hospital, as if we were a board of directors getting a clear description of how it does its business?

In any small operation in the public service — I am involved in several semi-State bodies — at every board meeting there is an outline of which checks and balances were applied every quarter. An outside auditor is brought in to verify the system. Fail-safe measures in the system are tested to check if they are sufficiently robust and flexible.

These are expected in ordinary operations but it does not seem to be happening in the health service. I am not having a go at the Government or advisers. I just want to know what they are doing. The recent higher remuneration report assessed a particular management group in the Health Service Executive and admitted it did not know what they were doing. That cannot be in anyone's interests. I want a debate on this to ensure moneys are spent properly.

Many commuters living in Dublin and the surrounding counties would be delighted not to have to drive into Dublin city and use park-and-ride facilities instead. However, there are no such facilities on the city's north side, the M1, M2, M3, M4 or M7. People are forced either to drive into the city or leave their cars at pubs and hotels in the outlying areas. Providing park-and-ride facilities is one small thing we could do. The commitment to provide more buses and regular rail routes needs to be re-examined. I accept Iarnród Éireann has significantly improved many routes but much more can be done.

In 2006 the House passed the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act. The proposals made last October for re-opening of the Navan rail line got full clearance last week owing to this legislation. We need to see more of that.