Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

I fully agree with the expectations of Senator Coghlan in regard to the former Senator's appointment to this portfolio. Senator Joe O'Reilly called on me to give my opinion on statements in the Irish Examiner. I will come back to the Senator when I clarify the statements with the various Departments. Senator Bacik called for a debate on prisons, improvements in prison services, prison facilities and on the proposed new prison. I have no difficulty leaving time aside for such a debate.

Senator John Paul Phelan called for a debate on drug driving testing and highlighted a document published in recent days. I have no difficulty leaving aside time for such a debate. To my knowledge, the only countries in which this testing takes place are New Zealand and Australia. This relates to penalty points and random breath testing. The committee responsible for this issue, which is probably the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children, should investigate how we can adopt best practice.