Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I agree with Senator Ross and other colleagues that we should compliment the Minister for Finance on what he has done. It was a pleasant surprise to hear this morning that our Government bonds have done so well. I wish the Minister continued success today in Frankfurt and in Milan. A number of advisers have travelled with him. Perhaps they would be able to advise him as to how to set up the National Asset Management Agency. That might encourage him to set out on the right track in that respect.

I was upset to read today, as I am sure was every other Senator in this House, that €17 million has been spent by the HSE on private consultants. We have all received letters from parents who have sick children and who have been trying to ensure their children are allowed attend Crumlin hospital. We have heard that two wards in that hospital are to be shut. Some of the intensive care unit beds have been closed. These parents have been told that only children who are to have emergency surgery will be accepted and that elective procedures are to be postponed. One such procedure is an operation for a child who has only three chambers in their heart. That operation has been called an elective procedure. To my mind, an elective procedure is a hip or a knee replacement and not a procedure, the postponing of which will affect the life of a child. This child will die if they do not have this operation.

Now we have had the disgusting overspend of Professor Drumm on consultants. I was outraged to read of that this morning. A hospital unit in Athlone is funded by the people and no money is available to staff it. There is an embargo on the recruitment of nurses and various therapists, while Professor Drumm is being allowed continue with this. I passionately ask the Leader to ensure this is stopped and to find a way to get the Minister, Deputy Harney to listen. This has to stop.