Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the 19 Members of the House for their contributions to the Order of Business. I will commence with Senators Ardagh, Conway-Walsh and Bacik, who spoke about Maurice McCabe. The Tánaiste has said on a number of occasions that she had no hand, act or part in the formulation of a strategy to attack the credibility of Sergeant McCabe.From my side, all we want to see is the truth found out and the facts put in the public domain once and for all. The tribunal has been established. Mr. Justice Charleton is the person in charge. It is his job and he has our full support to establish the truth.

As the Cathaoirleach said in his ruling, in his comment from the Chair, the tribunal is under way and all of us must be careful in what we say. The Tánaiste will address the Dáil at some stage this evening; I am not quite sure what the arrangements are. I would be very happy to facilitate the Tánaiste coming to the House this week at some point to have a statement on the matter. I would be very open to that and would not be afraid of it at all.

I know Senator Conway-Walsh has gone and she apologised. From my perspective, I hope all Members of the House keep minutes and keep records of what happened with whistleblowers because my party is very strong in what we have done to clean up white-collar crime. I challenge Senator Conway-Walsh and her party on how they have treated whistleblowers before she comes into this House and criticises the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Government of which I am a part. I would be very happy to have that debate at any time.

Senator Ardagh made reference to tonight's "RTÉ Investigates" programme. We need to watch and hear the programme in its entirety. However, my information is that it is about 14 of the 47 hospitals which have exceeded the 20% limit of private treatment. From our side of the House, we have pursued a model that has got differing viewpoints in terms of universality of health care and health treatment.

The hospital contract signed in 2008 had a very clear objective, to which we all subscribe, which is to improve access for public patients to public hospital care. That has not changed. It is a minefield with a number of different consultant contracts working in different ways. The obligation on the HSE and now the hospital groups is one that requires a piece of work to be done. None of us wants to see patients suffer. As I was driving up this morning, I heard people being interviewed regarding cataracts and hip replacements. We all want people to be treated in a timely way and with hospital care that is dignified and respectful. We will all work to strengthen the compliance which is not perhaps as robust as it should be. Certainly it is 14 of 47 hospitals. I would be happy to have the debate after the "RTÉ Investigates" programme.

I fully agree with Senator Lawless's remarks on the situation in Myanmar. We all thought Aung San Suu Kyi would show vision and her leadership would be a breath of fresh air, but she has been a disappointment to many of us. I agree with the Senator that it is a humanitarian crisis that requires urgent intervention in order that people be treated with respect and dignity. I will be very happy to ask the Minister to come to the House. Perhaps it might be quicker for the Senator to raise it as a Commencement matter. He is right to raise the matter and I fully support him.

Senators Higgins, Craughwell and Warfield raised the issue of the Defence Forces and permanent structured co-operation, PESCO, and Senator Craughwell mentioned the Shannon stopover. I certainly do not believe the Shannon stopover is in breach of our neutrality. I know the Minister of State at the Department of Defence gave Senator Higgins a very lengthy reply on the Commencement and the Cathaoirleach made reference to that. I fully understand her sincerity and passion on the matter. I will not read back to her the Minister of State's reply. We can have a debate on the matter. In his reply to the Senator, the Minister of State was very clear that it is in keeping with our previous international agreements.

I believe Senator Warfield referenced the Lisbon treaty. That was approved by the people in a vote in 2009. It was part of that discourse and debate.