Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. My enduring fantasy image of this debate will be of Senator Jim D'Arcy dancing to the music of Beyoncé at Glastonbury. It is interesting to know that the Senator has wide interests.

I too am disappointed the Minister, Deputy Reilly, is not in the House. It would have been an opportunity in light of all the controversy. It would also have given this House an enhanced status to have the line Minister present to at least hear this debate, particularly as the other House is not sitting. We are dealing with a current issue, rather than something that is being put in place for the far future. I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State. I know how the system works and I am sure she was given the rotation and told to get in there and man the barricades. I know she will do that very well. I also wish her well in her own brief within the Department.

I join other Members in commenting on the issues before us. One of the aspects of the junior doctor issue which I have raised more than once before now, is that we will introduce a significant number of junior doctors from India and Pakistan. I hope the Minister of State can reassure the House and the hospitals not only that they will be trained up to integrate into the Irish health system as quickly as possible, but that their language skills will be at the same high level as that required of their medical expertise. Without wishing to sound as if I am against the concept of junior doctors from the Asian sub-continent coming into Ireland - I am not - like many Members of this House I have been in and out of hospital since childhood. My memories of being treated by junior doctors from the Sudan, India and Pakistan have been, in the main, very positive. It is just that on occasions when I have visited emergency rooms-----