John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I join Senators who have asked for a debate on banking and banking policy in general. I understand what Senator Hanafin said about the Minister for Finance but there are at least two if not three Ministers attached to the Department of Finance. There are several other Ministers who have a role in regard to banking policy and it should not be impossible to have that discussion today. Indeed, it should not have been impossible that it would have been arranged for today. After a two-week recess we should have had a debate on banking today arranged by the Leader.

I am a bit fed up of the double speak that comes from the Government benches. I refer to people who express support for a debate on banking policy in the House but who will not vote for an amendment to have a debate or will not ensure the Leader has it on the Order Paper for any given day.

On the Taoiseach's comments yesterday, Senator Ross is right. The Taoiseach, Deputy Cowen, came out yesterday and washed his hands of the banking position, specifically relating to Mr. Boucher and Bank of Ireland, and that is not good enough. The taxpayers, through the Government, are significant shareholders in that institution. We have people on the board and we should be able to get a result. This is a time for action, not just discussion.

I also join Senator MacSharry, who has just left the Chamber, in his request for a debate about the Health Service Executive and the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA. I have a particular issue in my part of the world, which issue affects the entire country, where the much awaited nursing home care standards are being implemented. Everybody agrees they should be implemented but they are being applied to supported care homes, which are not nursing homes, and are threatening their very existence. There are more than 200 people in supported care homes in Kilkenny. One was closed in Carlow last year because of these HIQA standards that require them to put in 24-hour nursing care even though they are not nursing homes and the people who are residents do not need 24-hour nursing care. These are voluntary organisations which are run as local charities, in effect. They raise their own money and get very little funding from the HSE. We cannot get answers from HIQA or from the HSE as to how those standards should be implemented. The people who run the supported care homes agree that they should have standards but not 24-hour nursing care standards because the residents do not require that.

I agree with Senator Ó Brolcháin and others who raised the issue of what has happened following the volcanic eruption in Iceland and the vulnerability of Ireland in terms of our island status. It is ironic that it is only about two weeks since Iarnród Éireann announced the closure of the Rosslare to Waterford line, a service it deliberately ran down over a number of years to allow it to close it because the figures showed declining usage. We now have people from all over the country who want to get to Rosslare. We have got 2% of the overall volume of our exports but 30% of the value of our exports cannot get off the ground in airports throughout the country. It is ironic at a time when the Green Party is in Government that we are closing railway lines throughout the country. The Government, the Green Party, the Minister and Iarnród Éireann should seriously consider their position on that issue.