Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

——that such files, which one would consider confidential, were found in a landfill site. How a hospital authority could have behaved in such a way is beyond belief. These items should have been shredded or incinerated. Given this, the news of laptops going missing recently and so on, perhaps there is a need to legislate for stronger guidelines in the area of personal data protection. I wish to hear from the acting Leader on this matter.

We welcome the resolution, which hopefully is not temporary, of the dispute between pharmacists and the Health Service Executive. We also welcome that medicines will continue to be dispensed to medical card holders and others under the drug schemes. It is proper that the independent body on pharmacy contract pricing is allowed to get on with its business. The HSE has behaved badly and it should never again resort to unilateral action of that kind.

Yesterday the acting Leader perhaps overlooked the questions which Senator Ross and I raised regarding the property services regulatory authority Bill. This is an important measure and it is badly needed. Nobody wants consumers to be mislead in any way. There could be something of a conflict given the existing legislation on data protection and the consumer protection agency. Perhaps some amendments are necessary to allow for proper and full information where relevant to be revealed. This is something everybody in the House would welcome. However, it would be wrong to use estate agents as scapegoats and there seems to be an inclination to blame them for any collapse or decline in the housing market. Hopefully the market will become more buoyant than it appears at present.

I congratulate the Members of this House who won awards last night.