Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

It seems the survival of Fianna Fáil is more important than the good of the country. I had a very disturbing telephone call this morning from a constituent of mine who is down €350 per month. She is a widow with two children and she is trying to put them through college. She is a young working widow and it is absolutely galling for her to see retiring Ministers who are still in office get a pension of €95,000 and a lump sum payment of €310,000. For the good of our country, the Government should call a general election and let the Green Party do thing honourable thing even at this eleventh hour.

I join Senator Feeney in complimenting one good thing the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, did, namely, establish centres of excellence. However, I agree with Senator Healy Eames that more people have been on trolleys in the past year than ever before. That is a terrible indictment of the Minister's tenure.