Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I too wish to be associated with congratulating Senators Doherty and Boylan. I congratulate Senators Blaney, Chambers and Gavan for putting their names forward as well.

I wish to take up the last point made by my colleague with regard to spoiled votes. The issue I wish to raise is those ballots that were not stamped, which is a huge issue for us. Those people did the right thing. When I was in, I saw those spoiled votes being debated. They had a correct number one, two, three and four, but they were spoiled because they were not stamped correctly. As my colleague said, in this day of technology, we need to look at something better. Those people voted. I think the figure from the last local elections is well over 1,000 votes were spoiled, and that is totally unacceptable in a modern democracy. We should look at that urgently. I have come across it. Especially when voting comes down to one or two votes, those votes can make all the difference. It is something we need to come back to.

I wish to mention something I raised here a couple weeks ago related to an estate called Abbeylands in Castledermot. I spoke about Uisce Éireann-Irish Water, Kildare County Council and a sewage spill that happened.As the estate was not taken in charge, there was consternation as to who was responsible. Unfortunately, over the weekend this situation arose again, this time in respect of the Branswood estate in my home town of Athy. The issue with Branswood is that three times in the last five months the sewerage pumps have failed, which has left raw sewage pouring onto footpaths and into people's gardens. In one estate the damage to a garden is estimated to be of the order of €2,000. I have been told that the problem is that Kildare County Council is waiting for word back from Uisce Éireann as to three options the council has given it. This matter has gone on for almost a year yet the residents of Branswood still await a solution to their problem. Unfortunately, this flows into a neighbouring estate in Corran Ard as well. I have mentioned before that Uisce Éireann need to get its act together. It needs to ensure that both Kildare County Council and the developer, who is still in situ, know the exact response in this case. Unfortunately, this is happening too often. It is simply unacceptable that there have been two cases in recent weeks. We need to bring this matter to a head. We need Uisce Éireann to respond quickly, rather than taking up to a year to respond in respect of three options put forward by Kildare County Council to solve this problem and the previous problem I brought up that occurred in Abbeylands in Castledermot. This is important because young children and older people cannot go out and enjoy their gardens and walk on their footpaths. Maybe this is a matter that we can debate or raise with various Ministers.

I know that we will debate cancer services tomorrow but today I want to raise the issue of medical cards for cancer patients. Very recently I have come across three different cases concerning this matter. The stress placed on families because their family member with cancer is not automatically entitled to a medical card is something to behold. In one particular case the stress has become too much for the family I am dealing with. They are going through an appeal mechanism at the moment but that is not something this person and his or her family need to deal with at this time. We can talk about this issue again tomorrow but something needs to be done and this matter needs to be sorted once and for all.