Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

Only the Minister for Health and Children is responsible to this House, not the HSE. Only the Minister is accountable to the people. Will the Leader ask the Minister to reassure patients and the people that measures are in place to prevent this happening again? We thought we had this reassurance before. Now we see this incredible medical error. It took a person's death for the error to be spotted. It is just not right.

Equally, I want to ask the Taoiseach and the Minister for Education and Science to engage quickly with the teachers' unions which are now threatening half day and full day closures. Our children cannot learn in a stop-go system. Equally, teachers should not be made pay for all the economic woes of this country. I implore the Minister for Education and Science to engage in order to prevent the unions from creating such deadlock and bringing the entire system to a halt. The same thing is happening with regard to the hospital strikes-----