Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement by the Minister, Deputy Bruton, in regard to the partial loan guarantee scheme to the SME sector. It had been announced four times already but I am glad it is now in place. Any additional credit that can go to our SMEs is crucial. I would add one caveat in that the Government needs to watch very carefully what the banks do with this. While it has been announced today and is up and running, I would consider it appropriate that, before the end of the year, we would look at how it is being rolled out and what real effect it is having on businesses. I ask the Leader to consider this.

We need an urgent debate on home-care packages. I have been listening over the past couple of days to Government Senators and Deputies wringing their hands and saying it is terrible that the HSE is cutting ¤8 million between now and Christmas, which is equivalent to approximately 400,000 to 450,000 hours of home care. I remind Members on the Government side that this is on top of 500,000 hours that have already been cut. I listened with great interest to a colleague, Senator John Whelan, last night railing against the HSE, saying this is awful and asking how the HSE and the Department of Health can do this. I remind Government Members that Mr. Ambrose McLoughlin was appointed Secretary General of the Department of Health by the Minister, Deputy Reilly, in April with no public notification of that job. He is the chairman of the HSE. Furthermore, the Minister, Deputy Reilly, hand-picked the successor to Mr. Cathal Magee who, as we all remember, was effectively driven out by the Minister, Deputy Reilly. His successor, Mr. Tony O'Brien-----