Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

It has been seconded this morning. A number of people — Senator Conway in particular — raised the matter of the undocumented Irish on yesterday's Order of Business. We will have the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade in the House in January. Senator Ó Clochartaigh spoke about the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine who is on the way to Brussels to negotiate on fishery quotas etc. He will be in the House on 25 January for a debate on the subject.

Senator White spoke about HIQA, which is charged with ensuring that our nursing homes meet the necessary standards our older people deserve. We should remember that proper services and facilities need to be provided for our elderly people and they must meet the standards set by HIQA. I am involved in a nursing home and realise the problems HIQA can make for such homes. At the end of the day proper facilities must be provided and proper procedures must be adhered to in order to ensure the best possible service is provided for our elderly people.