Ivor Callely (Fianna Fail)

In the past I asked the Leader on the Order of Business if there was a mechanism that could be agreed by the party leaders and introduced in the House, whereby we could have a structured debate on matters of importance, whether it be the economy, finance issues or any of the other relevant matters raised. I am frustrated at the level of progress made. Week in, week out we hear Senators calling for debates and I have asked for a structure to be put in place to facilitate them. I want to know whether the Leader and the other party leaders have come to an agreement on how such a structure could be put in place. Perhaps for a certain period of the day or at a certain time of the week we could hear good news or whatever it might be, but I want to see a structure being put in place to facilitate this, as week in, week out we hear Senators calling for debates with Ministers who have appointments already scheduled in their diaries, yet we expect them to drop everything to come to the House to respond to questions. That is crazy and unacceptable. I want to know what progress has been made in dealing with this issue.

There is one issue which I ask the Leader to check and to report back to the House, that is, the millions of euro being wasted in the health care budget. There is a need for prudent management of each euro spent, whether on services for older persons or ambulance services, in which in certain areas we saw delays in the past couple of days we saw delays. There has been a significant rise in the threat posed to patients of catching lethal infections in public hospitals, even though it has been clearly acknowledged that such infections are preventable with the right focus on hygiene and cleaning standards. I ask the Leader to investigate the matter and report back to the House.