Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, would like to join my colleagues in lamenting the passing of Derek Davis. I also agree with what Senator Mooney has just said. It is not the function of the Taoiseach of this country to apologise for the actions of terrorists who acted on the soil of this country.

I wish to raise two issues. The first is the issue of Balbriggan community school, which my colleague, Senator Darragh O'Brien, has represented well in this House and I know he will continue to do so. However, the time has come for a debate in this House on the school building programme and how it is being run. We simply cannot have a school being promised something one day and, as it were, having the rug pulled out from under it the next.

Yesterday I was listening to the news. It is no secret around here that I am a recent grandfather. I started to hear stories of the appalling maternity services in this country. Part of me was slightly horrified that we would talk about these things on the day parents lost a child in this country. There is clearly a huge problem in the health services in this country. I cannot begin to understand how any young expectant mother facing a maternity hospital over the next couple of months is thinking with all the talk of the disastrous services. The time has come for us to review what the HSE does. We have one layer too many in the health service. We need to get rid of the HSE and bring health back to the Minister's Department, where the Minister takes first-hand responsibility. I am not for one moment condemning the Minister. He is doing an excellent job, in fairness to him. However, he will say himself that he is running to keep up. It is time that this House, which has the time to discuss and debate what exactly has gone wrong since we introduced the HSE into the country, had that debate.