Phil Prendergast (Labour)

I congratulate the people who were appointed to their new jobs yesterday, especially Deputy Seán Connick. I agree with Senator Twomey that the south east has been left without a senior Ministry and that that matter should be addressed.

In yesterday's reshuffle the word "employment" was not mentioned at all. I would like the Leader to tell Members who is now responsible for FÁS, enterprise and job creation. Who reports to whom and what is the accounting procedure? In terms of redundancies, who do we talk to because the lines of communication are fragmented now in this regard?

The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, should come to the House for a debate on the staff moratorium which is crippling the health services. The unemployment monitoring group for the HSE south region has not met yet in 2010. Not one nurse, midwife, ICU nurse, coronary care nurse or anyone working in a specialist interest area, including ward clerks and those involved in support services and portering services has been replaced if they are on sick leave, long-term sick leave, maternity leave or other leave. There are 120 vacancies in the public health nurse sector, which is in the primary care setting on which there is now a major focus. That leaves a major divide in that setting.

No posts have been provided for the cervical vaccination programme, which means that 30,000 young girls needing 90,000 vaccinations in April, September and November will have that programme administered by nurses who are not doing other jobs they are supposed to do such as elderly surveillance and childhood assessments. We are leaving gaps in our health services that cannot be accounted for because if a child is not having its developmental check-up at the appropriate age, that child's vital measurements will be missed leading to major problems later on in life. The Minister must give this issue her undivided attention.

I ask that the responsible Minister would come to the House for a review of the national spatial strategy, which set out a realistic vision for the future development of Ireland and was the outcome of extensive public discussion at the time. However, with unemployment levels rising in great numbers throughout the country it is timely to have a review of the spatial strategy, gateways, hubs and regions that are severely disadvantaged by huge job losses such as those in Dell, Waterford Glass and all the smaller businesses that are losing jobs by the day. We must have an urgent debate on that and an urgent review of the spatial strategy, particularly in regard to our own region.