Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

I again put on the record my congratulations to the administrator and staff at the Longford-Westmeath Regional Hospital, Mullingar on being the most efficient hospital in the country last year. It has got a second acknowledgement for its standards of hygiene. It is a shining example of what we expect from a HSE hospital.

Based on the Fianna Fáil proposal for reform of the Seanad, Senators Mooney and Hanafin asked that the scrutiny of all the European Union measures should take place here. I will discuss this at the next Committee on Procedure and Privileges meeting under your stewardship, a Chathaoirligh, to see how we might accede to this. As I said when I was Chairman of the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business and have often said here on the Order of Business, items were coming in by the half stone in old weight terms. It is enormous. We had two consultants at the time. I need to ascertain what back-up facilities the Government will give to the Seanad if we are to take on this responsibility. I am grateful for the remarks of the former Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Michael McDowell, in the committee yesterday. It is a role and challenge the Seanad should take on. However, it is enormous. It could possibly take one full day in each week's sittings to process. When I was Chairman of the committee, I was told approximately 45% of the measures came to the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. I will discuss the matter with the Cathaoirleach and the Leaders of the groups. We will take it to the Committee on Procedure Privileges to see how we might proceed with the proposal, which is a very good one.