Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

This will come, it would appear from what she stated, mostly from front-line services. Front-line services means, in effect, everything from home help to services in the community and services for neonatals. I met a couple at the weekend who had a very young vulnerable sick child and who told me the suctioning material and equipment they need was being rationed by hospitals at present. That is what we are talking about.

I call for a debate in this House on these issues because this is what we should be discussing because everybody else is. It is not enough that it happens only in the Department of Finance. We need to be discussing these figures in this House. I call for an amendment to the Order of Business to discuss the reality of the figures which were presented to the Opposition spokespersons yesterday and their implications and the kind of response they will need from all parties in this House. This is what we need to be discussing in the House today. The public needs to be involved in these discussions. They need to hear about these choices in these Houses at this time. This is not about private conversations in the Department of Finance with anybody. This is about real discussion in the Oireachtas in the weeks to come.