Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not going to comment on yesterday's debate on the Minister for Health in the Lower House. People would have found it interesting, to put it mildly, but what people are more concerned about is what is happening on the ground. Next week, the Minister for Health will attend this Chamber. We need a separate debate, however, on the health cuts happening on the ground every day of the week.

In the north Leinster area, including Dublin, the Health Service Executive ambulance service has been restricted. For example, every Tuesday in the Swords base in Lissenhall which had 24-hour, seven days a week advanced paramedic cover the ambulance is stood down for 12 hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. This service covers a population of nearly 400,000 people. The people of north Dublin and the surrounding areas would be advised not to have a heart attack on a Tuesday morning but instead to wait until 7 p.m. or not to have a serious incident or car crash in that period. Worse than that, on Tuesday cover for the north Dublin area comes from Tallaght. On another day of the week, the Swords base covers Tallaght and as far south as Loughlinstown. These cuts were implemented on 4 September and affect hundreds of thousands of people in the north Leinster area. I have written to the Minister about them but have not yet received any comment. Will the Leader arrange, as soon as possible, for the Minister for Health or one of his Ministers of State - maybe the one who is still speaking to him, Deputy Kathleen Lynch - to attend the House to explain why these cuts have been allowed to proceed, resulting in a ¤250,000 brand new ambulance sitting idle for 12 hours on a Tuesday. Last Saturday and Sunday, due to sick leave, there was no paramedic ambulance cover in the north Dublin area. This is a serious issue.

Will the Leader arrange a debate with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, on progress in the jobs initiative for next week or the week after that? For four years, ¤500 million will be taken each year from people saving for their pensions and retirement.

The Government will raid ¤2 billion from private pensions over a four year period. We saw the CSO figures yesterday. Long-term unemployment is at its highest rate. It is interesting that in the last quarter some 5,000 jobs were lost in the wholesale and retail sector which the Minister tried to support by reducing the rates of PRSI and VAT. We said at the time that the jobs initiative would not actually be tracked. We are taking money from private pensions to reduce the rates of VAT and PRSI that apply in certain sectors and need to know whether that is actually working. It would be worthwhile for the House to have a debate on unemployment in order that we can explain why the measures the Government took last year are not working. We might be able to feed some of our ideas into that discussion.

I would like to make a final point and thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence. I intend to bring legislation I have mentioned previously, the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) (Home Remediation-Pyrite) Bill 2012, to the House. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government needs to answer two questions quickly. The pyrite report was published before the summer and I attended the committee meeting at which it was discussed. I remind the House that this problem could potentially affect 70,000 people on the east coast. The Minister asked all stakeholders to report to him by the end of September, which is about 11 days away, on the measures they intended to take. I would like to know whether the stakeholders have met. Perhaps the Leader might find out. Are we on track for potential solutions to be published by the end of September? Will we have a repeat of the situation that prevailed where the pyrite report was delayed for eight months? I would appreciate it if the Leader asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to update the House on the progress his Department is making in its search for solutions to the pyrite problem.