Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)

Maraon le go leor daoine eile, ba mhaith liom tréaslú le mo chomhleacaí as Ghaillimh Thiar, Micheál D. Ó hUigín, fear a bhfuil aithne mhaith agam air agus ar a chlann. Guím gach uile rath air agus déanaim comhgairdeas leis as ucht an éacht atá déanta aige. Tá mé cinnte go ndéanfaidh sé sár jab. Is breá an rud freisin, go mbeidh an Ghaeilge i mbarr réime in Áras an Uachtaráin chomh maith céanna. Tabharfaidh sé sin dea-shampla dúinn ar fad.

Ba mhaith liom iarraidh ar an gCeannaire go mbéadh díospóireacht ar ábhar atá tarraingthe anuas agam go rí-mhinic sa Teach, is é sin dúnadh an chomhlachta Meitheal Forbartha Gaeltachta, MFG Teo. Tá an comhlacht faoi leachtú agus 130 post imithe ach tá an t-airgead a bhí ins na cláracha Leader agus LCDP fós ag an Stát. Tá an t-airgead sin ag teastáil níos géire ná ariamh dos na daoine ins na ceantair gaeltachta atá faoi míbhuntáiste nó atá ag iarraidh fostaíocht a chruthú. Ba mhaith liom go mbéadh díospóireacht ann ar céard a tharla le MFG, cén fáth a ndeachaigh an comhlacht bun os cionn, cé atá freagrach as na botúin sa chomhlucht sin agus cén uair atá an t-airgead ós na cláracha le cur i bhfeidhm le gur féidir rudaí a chur chun cinn ins na ceantair gaeltachta arís.

I join Senator John Whelan in calling on the Minister for Health to address the privatisation of nursing homes. I am afraid that Abbeyleix might not be a one-off situation. We have a similar situation in the St. Francis nursing home in Galway. It is not necessarily just an HSE issue but may also be a policy of the Government to move towards privatised old people's services. We certainly do not agree with that and would like a full debate on the matter. Next time the Minister for Health comes to the House we would prefer to have more than 40 seconds to question him on such issues.

Yesterday I attended a meeting of the joint policing committee in Galway city that discussed the traffic chaos in the city. As I am sure the Fine Gael Members noticed when they were there during the summer, it is not possible to get through the city which is in absolute chaos. From yesterday's meeting it is clear that none of the members of the groups dealing with the problem - Galway County Council, Galway City Council, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann - is talking to one another.