Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

The role of government should be to serve the needs of its people and on consideration of the present actions of the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coughlan, I call for her to come before this House to justify her purpose and her portfolio. Any Minister who oversees the exit of €500 million in VAT from the country deserves to have the portfolio taken from her by the Government. The way she is constantly hitting business and jobs is criminal. It is urgent that the Leader brings her into the House. By allowing these actions to continue, it is the Government that is not being patriotic to its citizens. I would like the Tánaiste to attend the House to debate the delivery of her portfolio vis-À-vis job creation.

I call for a healthy and mature debate on the Freedom of Information Act. This week is the tenth anniversary of enactment of the Act. It is very important that we debate the need for broader scope for the Freedom of Information Act, in particular so that we can investigate the actions of the regulator and the Central Bank, public bodies that are not within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act. We have seen the value and the return to the Irish citizen that Senator Ross provided through the investigation of FÁS. We need this accountability for our people at this time.

I would be delighted if there was a debate on Fine Gael's wonderful and comprehensive policy on universal health. The party put much research, time and thought into it and I compliment Deputy James Reilly on that. The policy does not rely on co-location, where we are prepared to give our public assets to private interests, which this Government has relied on for some time. I look forward to the Leader addressing these three issues today.