Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Let me make it quite clear. There is a Government plan on health. There is increased investment. There is an increase in staffing and there is a restoration of pay. What we must do now is commit ourselves further in the face of increased demand to see how we can make the health system deliver more for people, whether it is in the case of investment in increased intensive care beds or whether it is in the case of organ donation, the model of which this Government is changing. Under the previous Government, the health committee that I chaired held hearings on that issue and produced a report. Some Members of this House did not agree with it. There is investment beginning to take place from regression and let us not say there is nothing being done when there is.

Senator Ardagh raised the issue of housing. I would be happy to have the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, come to the House in regard to the issue of housing. Once again, we are seeing progress being made, although I accept it is slow progress. There is progress being made in terms of investment, in terms of the houses being constructed and in terms of Government commitment of prioritising the social housing need of our people. That is a fact, not an opinion. Multi-annual funding and the highest budget in the history of the State for housing were delivered in the most recent budget. This is fact, not fiction.I accept progress will be slow but we cannot come out of a crash and start building houses again at the rate we should have been building them. Equally, there is an obligation and duty on the banks, the construction sector and the Government with local authorities to make sure we expedite the building of social housing units.

Senators Boyhan, Burke and O'Reilly raised the issue of agriculture and fodder. I welcome the remarks by the Minister, Deputy Creed, yesterday at the IFA AGM regarding a transport subsidy for farmers affected by the fodder crisis. There will be a debate in the House next week on agriculture and Members can contribute to it.

Senator Boyhan also raised the issue of The Irish Timespolitical digest and the use of windbagging by Members of the House. We could all perhaps be accused of that. I will make the point on a serious level. We can have robust debate and disagreements but it is the prerogative of every Member of the House to come in here and raise a matter of extreme importance on the Order of Business. That is what the Order of Business is about. It is about Members raising matters of importance on behalf of constituents, communities or on their own behalf; it is not about windbagging. It is about being able to come in here and articulate a viewpoint on behalf of citizens and communities. It is important. Senator Boyhan is right. There is an element within the media who are now starting on a very slow race to the bottom while commenting on what we do. I will give the example of the political tracker on the eighth amendment. One can track what one's political representative is saying or doing. That is a very cynical approach to the issue. It is a substantive issue that requires debate. I appeal to members of the media who report in this House. We can have colour pieces but this is about issues being raised by Members.