Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Any malpractice in clinics must be investigated by the Garda, which is charged with investigating any such malpractice. As I stated last week,I have the utmost confidence in the Garda in the matter.

Senator Healy Eames spoke about banker pensions and there is no doubt that there is anger and resentment among the public and politicians about the matter. I am confident a way will be found in next month's budget to address the issue.

Senator Moloney spoke about the report on people dying by suicide, mentioning in particular those in the Cork, Kerry and Offaly areas. It makes for very hard reading. We have had many debates in the House on the subject and I am sure there will be similar debates in the future.

With regard to Senator O'Donnell's comments, we should await the budget on 5 December for a response by the Government on the issue of bankers' pay and pensions.

The Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will be in the House later and I am sure any question that needs to be asked of him can be asked during that debate.

I was disappointed by the number of Members who contributed last week when the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform attended the House. Some Members obviously tried to ruin it for others but there were not many in the Chamber for the debate which had been sought by between 15 and 20 Members in the past number of weeks. A total of 11 took part in the debate.

Senator Jim D'Arcy called for a moratorium on referenda for the next number of years. I am sure he will have almost the full support of Members for that proposition.

The issue of student grants was raised by Senator Jim D'Arcy and many other Senators. We all agree with the Minister for Education and Skills that the delays many students face in the processing of their applications are unacceptable. The Minister has requested that City of Dublin VEC which operates SUSI, the new single grant awarding authority, increase its staffing to deal with the backlog. As of yesterday afternoon, the position of 66,000 applications was as follows: 20,000 had been completed, awarded, provisionally awarded or refused; SUSI was awaiting documentation on almost 21,000 applications, for which 15,000 applicants had provided no documentation whatsoever; and 26,000 were awaiting processing. I agree with Members that this is too many but we should not rule out centralisation of this system. We had 66 local authorities and VECs and some of them were excellent at processing applications, while others were not as good and students would still be waiting if that system was still in place. Let us give the system a chance. I am as critical as anybody else of the centralisation of services when they do not work. This is not working as we want it to but let us give it a chance. Having one authority deal universally with grant applications is the way to go but I accept it must be done in a more professional and efficient manner, which is what the Minister is trying to ensure.

Senator Norris commented on human rights issues and the children's rights referendum. We owe a debt of gratitude to him for the debate we had last Thursday at short notice about the Supreme Court's decision on the referendum. It was an excellent debate which was a great advertisement for this House.

Both Senator Norris and Senator Moloney raised the issue of the national suicide prevention officer. The position has been filled and the person concerned will start in the coming weeks. That will be welcomed by all.

Senator Ó Clochartaigh raised the issue of the funding of community and voluntary bodies. We have had debates with various Ministers on the budgetary process and this matter can be raised in that context. With regard to oil, we still have not brought anything ashore. When we bring something ashore, we can begin to generate revenue at that stage.