Alex White (Labour)

Whatever happens to Seanad Éireann in the next Oireachtas, there will be the election of a new Seanad in the next few months. The Order of Business is the first item whoever will be Leader of the next Seanad should reform. We have never been clear about what we should be doing on the Order of Business. The tradition n any parliament has been literally to order business. In the Seanad, however, it has become something much wider by allowing Members to debate the issues of the day. I am not criticising Members for doing this because elected representatives are entitled to raise such matters, but it should not be done on the Order of Business. There should be a new way to have regular debates on such important matters to which Senators can contribute instead of this nonsensical opportunity, one which we are all guilty of using to jockey to get on radio or television, as Deputy Bertie Ahern said yesterday.

I agree with Senators Fitzgerald and O'Toole on the great support all Members enjoy from members of staff, particularly the Clerk and Clerk Assistant of the Seanad. They have given great assistance to me and the Labour Party with good humour and intelligence and have been available at all times. I also thank the people sitting in front of the Cathaoirleach who do important work for the Houses and all others who participate in helping the Chamber to run smoothly.

This morning Aviva announced its plans to increase its health insurance charges. While we can all rail against this and the fact that people are being obliged to deal with increased charges at every hand's turn, we must highlight the fact that it again points to a serious policy failure on the part of the outgoing Government with regard to the funding of health. The Government has flunked the test in respect of this matter on every occasion. The issue to which I refer was brought before both the High Court and the Supreme Court, where the Government lost. I was sorry it lost in the Supreme Court because the position it took in respect of risk equalisation was correct. However, the matter was then just abandoned and no action was taken. It must be two years ago since the decision of the Supreme Court was handed down. The Government applied a sticking plaster in successive Finance Acts in the context of tax relief.

The issues of health insurance and the funding of health must be tackled. The Labour Party will be publishing policies on these matters in the next couple of weeks. I accept this is a political matter which will be dealt with during the general election campaign. I will, however, be interested to discover the policy of the Fianna Fáil Party on health. That party has had nothing to say on this issue for many years. It left it to the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, who has not been a member of Fianna Fáil for some years, to speak on the matter. What is the Fianna Fáil Party's policy on health? Does it have a policy? We have not seen such a policy but we would be interested in seeing it in the coming weeks.