Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Senators O'Brien, Conway and Paul Coghlan called for a debate on the eurozone crisis. I have arranged with the Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, to come in from 11.15 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. on Friday to address the House on the eurozone crisis. There have been a number of changes to the schedule for the week that I issued to Members shortly before we came in. The debate will take place on Friday.

Senator Bacik asked about the appointment of the Secretary General in the Department of Justice and Equality to a post in Europe. The matter will be referred by her to the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality for discussion in the new year.

We all join Senator Eamonn Coghlan in congratulating Fionnuala Britton, Gráinne Murphy and Melanie Nocher, who had such great success for the country. It is great for any of our sportspeople to succeed on the international stage and we are all very proud of them and wish them well for next year.

Senator Quinn asked about the traceability of beef and the quality of Irish beef. The quality of our beef is of paramount importance and traceability is a major factor in that. I am not in favour of any relaxing of the regulations on beef exports but I will raise the issue with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Traceability is our strength in the export markets and it would be a retrograde step if we were to row back in any way.

Senator Noone raised the question of NAMA awarding contracts to auction houses outside the State. We have many highly reputable auction houses in Ireland that would do just as good a job as some of those outside the country and I would hope NAMA would take that into consideration when awarding these contracts in future.

Senator Norris mentioned the appointment of the former Secretary General of the Department of Finance. His appointment was ratified in the European Parliament by 521 votes to 128 this morning. It is a resounding vote of confidence in the former Secretary General. I am not aware as yet when the Government intends to introduce the privacy Bill. It is on the Order Paper but I will try to ascertain when it will be introduced but it will not be this week.

Senator Kelly raised the views of the Irish Road Haulage Association on the price of fuel. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport would be very interested in ways to save money in this regard and the Irish Road Haulage Association will raise the issue with him. If there is money to be saved by reducing costs, he will do it.

The unemployment crisis was brought up by Senator Cullinane. The situation is of grave importance to the Government. He also raised the community employment schemes. The Government is fully committed to the protection and development of community and social employment initiatives. Community employment schemes provide an important and valued contribution to social employment, training and progression of unemployed people. Many community employment schemes provide vital community services across the country and as part of the entry of FÁS to the Department of Social Protection on 1 January 2012, the Minister has directed that a review of CE schemes will immediately commence and no scheme will close pending the outcome of the review.

Senator Wilson asked about Garda stations. A number of them were closed but some of them have not been operated as Garda stations for many years and others were open for a number of hours every day. I will try to get the Minister for Justice and Equality to come in to explain the rationale behind the closure of Garda stations.

Senator Harte raised the issue of the nursing home in Lifford. HIQA standards are taxing and it is a matter we will seek to clarify for the Senator.

Senator Barrett asked about the Leap ticketing project and how its costs overran by 77%. This project has been in the pipeline since 2002. It is deplorable there should be such cost overruns and they should be investigated. The PAC will look at this but as the Senator stated, the era of such cost overruns is over and it cannot be allowed in future. I completely agree with the Senator's remarks on this subject.

Senator Healy Eames asked for an update and debate on the Croke Park agreement and we will arrange that early in the new year. The whole question of increments has been estimated to cost €250 million annually across the public service. Significantly reduced recruitment and higher numbers on the maximum scale means the cost of increments will reduce in coming years and will be affected by other factors as well. Suspending increments would affect some public servants but would have little or no effect on others in the higher brackets. Incremental scales are longer for the lower paid than the higher paid. The Government has given assurances about this in the Croke Park agreement as long as the necessary flexibility is delivered by public servants.

Senator D'Arcy called for a debate on education and I will try to arrange that for early in the new year.

Senator Colm Burke pointed out that overtime for registrars in the health service amounted to €100 million. That is a very large sum and I am sure it will be investigated by the Minister for Health.

Senator O'Keeffe raised the independent review that has been mentioned by the HSE on the dreadful abuse of children that we learned about last week. She asked for the terms of reference of the independent review and I will try to find them out from the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs or the Minister for Health.

Senator Michael Mullins spoke about the need for motorists to check the lights, tyres, etc. on their vehicles. I take the opportunity to express condolences to the families of those who lost their lives so tragically in road accidents last week. Let us hope other families will not suffer a similar fate in the weeks coming up to Christmas.