Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

On the utterances of certain people about what we, in the Houses of the Oireachtas, should or should not say, I want to make my position clear: anything I consider worth saying relevant to any matter of common interest to me and those I represent, I will say it. If some people do not like that, hard cheese.

From time to time we call on the Leader for debates on this, that or other topic. It is not fair when Members accuse the Leader of including frivolous items. I called for a debate yesterday on drugs. Can anyone tell me that is not an important item? I have called for a debate on the report by an Oireachtas committee on the electoral register drawn up following a meeting with our counterparts in Belfast. Everyone comes into the House after an election and gives out about the local authorities which, despite their best efforts, are not getting it right. The reason they are not getting right is the system is wrong. It does not work, has not worked and will not work. We must get real about debates in this House. We have debates but they take the form of statements.

I have in the past and will in the future articulate my views on the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar. It has not been getting a fair crack of the whip, although it is one of the top performing hospitals in the country. In a hospital not far away, a less well performing hospital, there are 100 more whole-time equivalent nurses than in Mullingar.