Lisa McDonald (Fianna Fail)

I want to reiterate what my Wexford colleague has just stated as regards whistleblower legislation, which is long overdue. What the DPP stated last week as regards whistleblower legislation and the need for the position to be reviewed as regards juries in cases of white collar crime, shows that there is certain frustration within State prosecution agencies in dealing with that type of crime, and such legislation is needed. The frustration is evident on the streets and people need to see heads rolling as regards white collar crime. We need to act immediately in this regard. Funnily enough, if we were to have a highlighted debate on this in the House within the next couple of weeks, it could act as a catalyst towards the introduction of appropriate legislation as soon as possible.

I also want to support calls for the HSE to give a proper form of explanation in the case of Daniel McAnaspie. I am not sure another public inquiry will do very much apart from telling us that this particular child fell through the cracks in the HSE's services. There certainly are cracks in the executive that need to be looked at. How many more such children will be neglected by the HSE before this matter is dealt with? We need to deal with this urgently. All the indications are that our systems are not correct. I have dealt with the District Court situation vis-À-vis children in care, fighting the HSE etc. in times gone by, and I can assure the House it is a very frustrating process. Only God can help the child in the centre of such a situation because the system is so unwieldy, time consuming etc. and does not appear to be child centred.

We urgently need to look at this matter and I am not sure that another report on a shelf will do any good. We need action in this area and it needs to be dealt with forthwith. I ask the Leader for a debate on that.