Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Whelan spoke about the former Avon Arlington factory in Portarlington. Laois County Council should deal with the matter under the derelict sites order. The Senator should take the matter up with NAMA, which has a special division dealing with these types of issues. Ultimately as it is a derelict site, Laois County Council should take action against the owner and if the owner is NAMA it should take action against it. I can assure Senator Ó Clochartaigh that the Government has already introduced a balanced budget and will continue to introduce balanced budgets in order to get us out of the present economic mire.

Senators O'Neill, Noone and Conway called for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to come to House to debate road safety and penalty points. I will try to arrange that with the Minister.

Senator Walsh spoke about good governance. We will be dealing with reform of the health service and good governance in that area after the Order of Business.

Senator Comiskey spoke about the sewerage problems in estates in Longford. The Minister of State with responsibility for housing will be coming to the House in early course and she may be the appropriate person to address those issues.

In response to Senator Hayden, the Minister for Social Protection will be in the House on Thursday next for two and a half hours as part of a series of pre-budget debates with various Ministers. People will have ample opportunity to raise the myriad of social welfare items that have been mentioned on the Order of Business. Perhaps in that debate we can deal with facts rather than the speculation of which we have heard plenty in recent weeks.

Senators Wilson and Daly spoke about local government reform. I understand the Minister will be making an announcement and all will be revealed on the issue next week.

On the issue of education, the Minister will come to the House again for pre-budget statements on 23 October during which I am sure Senators will have many questions on the education sphere.

I note Senator Paul Coghlan's comments on the demise of the Glencullen group which is certainly a blow to the motor trade. Senator Michael D'Arcy spoke about accidents on farms and getting safety information to farmers. It is a very important issue that I will raise with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine. The Minister was here last week and even if he is not scheduled to be her in the next week or two, we will certainly arrange for that type of information to get to farmers - it is a very serious issue.

I already said that Senator Daly spoke about local government reform. He need have no worries about the status of Waterford city. If he read the terms of reference of the group that was charged with the issue of amalgamation, he would know that it specifically dealt the protection of city status for Waterford.

In addition to dealing with mental health, Senator Moran asked when the Walsh report would be published. I will try to ascertain that for her.