Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

Yesterday's debate on the Keane report was useful and I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, on his contribution. He made some significant remarks, giving a firm commitment that the implementation strategy to deal with mortgage arrears will be published in advance of the budget and this is welcome. In fairness to the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, several items were put to him from all Members and I believe he will take them on board. The gravity of the mortgage issue crosses all parties here and I wish to put on record that I was pleased with the Minister of State's contribution and interaction.

I did not get an opportunity to ask the Leader about a matter which we might take up if the Minister of State, Deputy Willie Penrose, is due in the House in the coming weeks. The Housing Finance Agency financed many affordable housing and shared ownership scheme mortgages. For example, in the case of my county council in Fingal almost 19% of affordable housing and shared ownership mortgages are in arrears. The county councils are not following the code of conduct applicable to other lenders. It was outside the original code of conduct and I have anecdotal evidence from constituents not only in Fingal, but in other county councils, that mortgage holders are finding it remarkably difficult to strike deals with local authorities. We have direct control over the local authorities and the Housing Finance Agency should be on the agenda. I call on the Leader to find a slot to debate this in the next week or two.

I note the change to the Order of Business today and I fully accept that there is nothing the Leader could do about the matter with regard to the Minister for Education and Skills. Several members have raised the question of scrutiny of European Union legislation in recent weeks, how the Seanad could play a role in it and how we are entitled to play a role in it due to the passing of the Lisbon treaty. I call on the Leader to pursue this. The schedule has been light on certain weeks. We should set aside a minimum number of days every month to consider EU directives and legislation coming down the tracks. The House can play an important role in scrutinising such legislation. We have done so with our Bills and the House has done well with several recent Bills and has done well in scrutinising legislation. We have the capacity to do so and we should do so.

I am pleased the Minister for Health will be in the House tomorrow. It is timely because we have seen reports about the slow privatisation of our hospitals by stealth, especially in the HSE west region, where a tender has been put out by the HSE with the agreement of the Minister to privatise the management of the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, and University College Hospital, Galway. Fine Gael gave this commitment in its manifesto, effectively privatising the health sector. We are particularly concerned about this and I will ask the Minister about it tomorrow.

All Members should be concerned because the Minister addressed these matters to regional Deputies and Senators late last week but no statement has been given to the House. I will ask the Minister about it tomorrow but in my view we are creating another layer of private management consultants which, apparently, will interact and share their experience with other hospitals that will not have this private layer of management over them. This is the start of a privatisation which has outlined the creation of Tory-style hospital trusts in the country, to which we are most opposed. I will use the opportunity tomorrow to ask the Minister about it directly.