John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I join Senator Fitzgerald and others in asking the Leader to arrange a debate on the bailout of Greece and its potential impact on Ireland and the euro. Senator Donohoe reminded us that he raised this issue on a number of occasions last week, when we really should have been holding a debate in anticipation of what happened over the weekend. I hope we have that debate as soon as possible.

I support Senator MacSharry's repeated call for a debate on the operations of the HSE. I would like such a debate to focus in particular on the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, and the use of the standards it sets to close supported care homes in Kilkenny. These standards were originally drawn up because of abuse in nursing homes but supported care homes are not nursing homes. People are moved from supported care homes to nursing homes when they require a certain level of care. It is a disgrace that supported care homes, most of which are charitable operations, may be closed because of standards which were never intended for them in the first place. This is symptomatic of what has happened in the HSE over recent years. We have handed power to unaccountable bodies and we cannot get answers to straightforward questions.

I also seek a debate on the national car test and the long delays in testing across the country. People face two-month delays in some car test centres. If their cars do not pass the test, they cannot be taxed and can, therefore, be seized by the Garda. The test is administered by a private company but is not good enough to allow this situation to continue.

Senator Ó Brolcháin's statement on the issue of zoned land reflects the deliberate confusion practised by Green Party Members who would have us believe that the we have difficulties with housing supply because of zoned land. If the entire country was zoned, that would not mean another house could be built. We have an over-supply of houses because of corruption at the highest levels of Government and banking. Lax lending measures have landed the country in its present mess. It has nothing to do with the amount of land zoned throughout the country.