John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I join Senator Ó Murchú in welcoming the decision to organise a joint session of both Houses of the Oireachtas to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the first sitting of the First Dáil. It is appropriate that we should convene in such a manner. I would like to raise a number of issues, most of which have already been mentioned.

The HSE placed its service plan for next year before the Oireachtas yesterday. Senator Callely asked whether the plan, which provides for cutbacks of more than €400 million, is already out of date. The media is reporting today that the HSE has confirmed that the document published yesterday is already "dated" — that is the exact term that was used. The HSE expects to have to save a further €400 million in addition to the cutbacks of €400 million that were announced yesterday. That is the official position of the HSE as things stand. It is a rather convenient position for the Government as it allows it to wash its hands of the spending needs of the health service. The Government has farmed out such decisions to the HSE. Before this session ends this week we should have a debate on the financial crisis that our hospitals and medical services will face next year if these cuts of almost €1 billion are made. Such a debate would be particularly important at this time of economic downturn.

We know that many people will seek to avail of the drugs repayment and medical card schemes next year. As Senator Ó Murchú mentioned, increasing numbers of people are finding themselves out of work. In that context, more people will have to rely on the medical card scheme at a time when the Government is talking about taking €1 billion from the health service, which is a slashing of services rather than a cutback. As Senator Fitzgerald said, accident and emergency units seem to be singled out for particular attention. I join Senator Prendergast in asking the Government to list the hospitals in which accident and emergency services will be cut.

As I was unable to be present for yesterday's Order of Business, I am not sure whether the Leader clarified the status of the request for a debate with the Minister for Education and Science. When is the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, likely to come to the House to discuss the cutbacks in the education sector? I refer in particular to the reversals he has announced since the Budget Statement some weeks ago.

I ask the Leader to investigate a matter that was drawn to my attention this morning at a breakfast meeting of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Irish Farmers Association. The Leader also attended the meeting, at which it was claimed that local authorities across the country are currently hiring inspectors to duplicate the farm inspection work of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Is that the position and, if so, why are additional inspectors being hired? Can the Leader shed some light on the issue?

The final point I would like to make relates to the capitalisation of the banks. Representatives of the leading banks, which control approximately 80% of the market in this country, attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service yesterday. I was shocked to hear the officials say that the banks do not need recapitalisation. The Government is proposing a scheme of recapitalisation. We have not had a debate on the scheme and we do not know the detail of it. We should have a detailed discussion as soon as possible, certainly before the House adjourns at the end of the week. We have not really discussed the banks since we passed emergency legislation some months ago.

Senator Donohoe spoke about the decision of the US Federal Reserve to cut that country's lending rate to 0.25%. If there continues to be such a large gap between the US rate and the current ECB rate of 2.5%, it will have serious implications for tourism, as previous speakers said, and for Irish industry as a whole. We should have a discussion on issues such as bank capitalisation and interest rate levels, as a matter of urgency, before we leave for the end of the year. I appreciate that we will consider the Finance Bill and the Appropriation Bill before the end of the week, but the matters to which I refer are not covered in those Bills. We should discuss such subjects this week.