Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator MacSharry’s amendment to the Order of Business. I would welcome an invitation from the Leader to the Minister for Health so that we could discuss the many crises and issues that exist currently in the HSE and the health service. I refer in particular to the shortage of GPs that we now face, which will become more serious in the years ahead. I would appreciate it if the Leader could facilitate the attendance of the Minister for Health at an early date so that we could address all of these important health issues.

I wish to refer also to the contributions of Senator Hayden and other colleagues on this side on homelessness. I would very much welcome a debate on the matter. It is obviously becoming a major crisis when one sees the type of person now presenting as homeless. It is no longer only single people with an addiction to drugs or alcohol who are homeless. When families begin to present as homeless it is evidence of a major crisis that must be addressed immediately.

I would also like to debate with the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, her plans regarding so-called ghost estates, as raised by Senator Barrett this morning. The initial proposal is to demolish up to 44 ghost estates, but there are many hundreds of ghost estates throughout the Twenty-six Counties, and if money was spent on some of them they could provide housing for those who desperately need it.