Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

These are the issues facing the people but we do not have the answers to them. The Government is sitting on its hands. We call on the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach to come to the House to show real leadership in terms of how we propose to deal with these challenges.

I refer to the health service and palliative care in the south east. Someone who is terminally ill should be afforded privacy and dignity in their dying days. The south east does not have a hospice to provide citizens with that fundamental dignity. Before the last general election, promises were made by Government that funding would be allocated for the provision of a hospice in Waterford. That funding, however, has been re-allocated to other areas in the health service and all kinds of excuses are being made. That is a scandal affecting those people who are most vulnerable. The Government needs to wake up and show real leadership.