Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I join others in condemning the events in Woolwich yesterday. It seems in an attempt to try to break through the constant noise of violence and violent acts that a new low has been reached whereby something like this could happen in broad daylight. Of course, the perpetrators have succeeded in breaking through. As Senator Hayden stated, if it is the case this video is on YouTube, they have achieved what they set out to achieve. None the less we must be firm in our condemnation and I ask the Leader to send formally letters of condolence to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and to the family of the young man who was so brutally murdered yesterday.

I call for a debate on the intermediate care vehicle strategy which has been around the HSE for a number of months. The acting CEO, Tony O'Brien, made reference to it on the radio at the weekend. He came before the Joint Committee on Health and Children in March. There are still many questions about how the strategy will work with a reorganisation of hospitals, the report on which was recently made public. The intermediate care vehicle strategy is quite important as it deals with ferrying patients from point A to point B. Unless the strategy is up and running, the hospital reorganisation will not be as efficient as it ought to be.

Will the Leader also ask the Minister for Health about the drugs costing strategy for children versus the drugs costing strategy for adults? If one is particularly ill, one's eligibility for drugs appears to be age dependent, in that one gets more drugs if one is younger. I seek clarification from the Minister, as the behaviour of hospitals in respect of people's ages seems strange.