Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

I wish to say how sad I am on the death of a good friend and colleague, Brian Lenihan. There is no more to say as regards anecdotes or praise of the man because it has all been said, but I am very sad still.

The issue has been raised about the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, coming to the House. The Minister made himself available in the House for the very uncontroversial and universally supported Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill and I was glad he was able to be here. However, he was not available to come to the House with regard to the issue of Navan hospital which I raised on the Adjournment, nor was he available when Roscommon hospital was raised in another Adjournment matter. I know also that when Senator Imelda Henry was speaking about Sligo hospital, he was not available to come to the House. It is very unfortunate. It is crucial that the Minister for Health comes to the House to talk about local hospitals. He spent most of the past two years travelling around Ireland campaigning for hospital services in local areas. While he has very important work to do with regard to the Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill, he should also discuss the local issues which were an important part of the election campaign. I note that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, made himself available to come to speak about an important financial issue I had raised. If the Minister for Finance is available to come to the House on an Adjournment matter, the Minister for Health should also be available.

The Minister for Finance is away this week doing very important work. However, the Leader had promised that we would discuss a wide range of issues during the passage of the Finance (No. 2) Bill, such as finance, the IMF and the European Union but we are unable to do so because the Minister is unavailable. It is important, therefore, to have a special debate on the various issues in that Department. Senator Bacik misinformed the House this morning that the IMF agreement required a reduction in Garda numbers but the IMF agreement does not mention Garda numbers. One of the features of the IMF agreement is that junior bondholders be burned, yet Ministers are claiming credit for that every day of the week.

Perhaps the Leader might ask the Government to hurry up the bringing forward of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill to give power to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, who was on television last night pontificating about Government policy and what the Government had achieved. After 100 days in office the Minister has no power because the Bill has not been passed by the Dáil or been brought before the Seanad. It is very unfortunate that the Minister, when asked last night what he was doing about the deficit, had to give the frank answer, "Nothing". It is a source of embarrassment for the Government that the flagship Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has no power. The Leader should tell the Government to get a move on.