Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Fianna Fáil group, I extend sympathy to Senator Eamonn Coghlan on the passing of his mother. I am delighted to see Ms Jody Blake here today. I am sure that she will be the judge of whether she has returned to a revised, rejuvenated and reformed Seanad. I am sure that we missed her more than she missed us. It is great to see her back.

On behalf of my group, my colleagues and I wish Senator Jimmy Harte a speedy recovery. All of us consider him to be a good friend and hope that everything goes well for him. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family at this time. We hope and are sure that he will make a very speedy recovery. We have thought about him since the news broke last Friday night and I ask the Labour Party leader to pass on our best wishes. Our Whip has been in touch with the Government side already and it goes without saying that any arrangements that need to be made vis-à-vis voting can be taken as a given. We hope that the Senator will be back with us very soon.

I shall turn to today's business. With regard to No. 1, it might be good to debate the motion when it returns from committee. I have raised the issue regarding betting tax with the Leader.

That is a very important sector for us also but the horse and greyhound racing fund regulations should be debated in the House when the Leader believes the time is appropriate.

Does the Leader have a revised date for the publication of the Health Service Executive service plan? There have been two extensions to the publication of the service plan that the Minister, Deputy Reilly, is to bring before the Oireachtas with regard to the health budget for next year. I was particularly concerned to read that the figure we were told initially was €666 million. Some say the figure is €1 billion but reports at the weekend indicate it is €1.2 billion. I hope we will not have a scenario where the service plan is published the day before or the day the House goes into recess-----