Seanad debates

Thursday, 9 October 2008

10:30 am

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

For the past week on this side of the House we have been talking about protecting the taxpayers' interest in any guarantee scheme we give to the banks. The taxpayers' interests can be served at the moment if the interest rate cut is passed on to customers. We heard the Consumer Association and other people say this morning that this should happen. If that were to happen it would certainly give some hope to hard-pressed families in the current climate. I hope in the coming days when the Minister for Finance holds discussions with the banks on the regulations and the scheme to be laid before us he will bear that strongly in mind. Given the increases they have suffered that would make a difference to many families. It was unprecedented yesterday for China to agree with the worldwide move to try to bring stability to the market. It would be good to see taxpayers and the hard-pressed people who are paying high mortgages benefit from that.

I wish to raise two other topics this morning because, while we are discussing the banks and the serious financial situation affecting everyone, obviously life goes on. I am very concerned to see that in Letterkenny General Hospital three babies contracted MRSA. We have very high rates of MRSA in this country and it raises the most serious concerns that vulnerable babies are now at risk of contracting MRSA in public hospitals. People are already very concerned about going to hospital and now babies are getting this infection. Very often the cause is that basic hygiene is not observed. We should have another debate in the House because people all around the country are concerned. They are concerned about the elderly contracting MRSA when they have to go to hospital. They are concerned also about their loved ones who have routine operations and are at risk of infection. That is a major issue in the health service and I would like the Leader to organise a debate on the matter in the House.

The report of the Environmental Protection Agency published yesterday contained very disturbing information about our failure to meet environmental targets. I would like the report to be discussed in the House to see what action the Government can take to deal with this disturbing information. One in three Irish rivers is now polluted. In the most favourable scenario, Ireland's greenhouse gases would exceed the proposed reduction target for 2020 by 7 million tonnes. It is an excellent report that should be debated.

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