Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I support the proposed amendment to the Order of Business. Senator Mac Conghail asked the Leader to indicate who the next important person to attend the House might be. It would be an achievement if we could manage to get the Minister for Health to the Chamber. This issue arose under previous Administrations too, where the contempt shown to this House is not the sole preserve of the media but also of the Cabinet as a whole. The more experienced Members opposite know that is true. If time can be made available to campaign in an election, senior line Ministers must also make the time to come to this House.

In response to a question I raised some weeks ago about whether members of the national ambulance service were being formally offered sick leave in lieu of overtime, the Leader kindly made every effort to have it answered. I received a written answer from him which had been passed by the Minister. Unfortunately, it was a parrot-like, laundered response from the Health Service Executive which danced around the question. There are 472 people on trolleys throughout the State today, 294 of them outside Dublin and 13 of those in Sligo where Senator O'Keeffe promised voters a centre of excellence. I think it is essential for democracy that the line Ministers are in change, regardless of how busy they are, and make themselves available on a fortnightly basis, albeit for a short period to answer key questions of the day. It would certainly play into the consultation process that Senator Mac Conghail is launching this afternoon on the Seanad's future. It would enhance democracy and would give people the right to accountability that they should enjoy under the Constitution.

I know the Minister for Finance will be here tomorrow to speak on general financial matters, but we require specific budgetary debates under the various headings, be it education, social welfare and so on. In that context, the VAT rate was reduced recently and restaurateurs and others passed on this reduction to consumers. The media came in for criticism for not passing on this reduction to consumers, although the Sunday Independent made some hay from the fact that it passed it on. Last Sunday, however, the price of the paper increased. One wonders if it was superficial that the media in the guise-----