Vol. 202 Thursday, No. 11 13 May 2010 DÍOSPÓIREACHTAÍ PARLAIMINTE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES SEANAD ÉIREANN TUAIRISC OIFIGIÚIL—Neamhcheartaithe (OFFICIAL REPORT—Unrevised) Thursday, 13 May 2010. Business of Seanad ………………………………659 Order of Business …………………………………659 Public Service Agreement 2010-2014: Statements ……………………674 Adjournment Matters: National Monuments ………………………………711 Accident and Emergency Services …………………………714 SEANAD ÉIREANN ———— Déardaoin, 13 Bealtaine 2010. Thursday, 13 May 2010. ———— Chuaigh an Cathaoirleach i gceannas ar 10.30 a.m. ———— Paidir. Prayer. ———— Business of Seanad. An Cathaoirleach: I have received notice from Senator Cecilia Keaveney that, on the motion for the Adjournment of the House today, she proposes to raise the following matter: The need for the Minister for Finance to ensure that monuments such as An Grianan in Burt, County Donegal have late opening hours. I have also received notice from Senator Mark Dearey of the following matter: The need for the Minister for Health and Children to comment on the ongoing staffing problems around the opening of the new emergency department in Drogheda Hospital which has no set opening date; and the need to maintain funding to the out-patient department at Louth County Hospital in Dundalk in spite of the funding cuts to accident and emergency departments recently announced. I have also received notice from Senator Ciaran Cannon of the following matter: The need for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to indi- cate the reason an application dated 25 September 2007 to carry out works at Lorro Gate, Athenry, County Galway has not been responded to. I regard the matters raised by Senators Keaveney and Dearey as suitable for discussion on the Adjournment and they will be taken at the conclusion of business. I regret I have had to rule out of order the matter raised by Senator Cannon as this Adjourn- ment matter is repetitious. Order of Business. Senator Donie Cassidy: The Order of Business is No. 1, statements on the Croke Park agree- ment, to be taken at the conclusion of the Order of Business and to conclude not later than 2.30 p.m. on which Senators may speak for ten minutes and may share time by agreement of the House, and with the Minister to be called upon ten minutes from the conclusion of the debate for closing comments. For the information of the House, spokespersons for each group will make their contributions first followed by the Minister. 659 Order of 13 May 2010. Business. Senator Liam Twomey: At a meeting held on Tuesday evening, attended by Oireachtas Members from County Wexford, the Minister for Health and Children and members of the HSE, Dr. Colm Quigley, who is responsible for the transformation of health services in the south east, stated he would not be able to keep open accident and emergency departments or maternity units unless he breaks the European working time directive until 2012. When chal- lenged, the Minister for Health and Children stated she would not allow the European working time directive to be broken. Will the Leader ask the Minister for Health and Children to come to the House to discuss this matter? This will apply throughout the country to all accident and emergency departments and maternity units, except those in large teaching hospitals in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. A significant threat will be posed to accident and emergency departments and maternity units in every other hospital in the country if the Minister refuses to allow the European working time directive to be broken. The Minister should come to the House immediately to discuss this because it will lead to a massive reduction of services in accident and emergency departments. Do the Leader and other Members have a problem with other European parliaments scrut- inising Ireland’s budget proposals prior to the budget being made public in the Oireachtas? It is unbelievable that the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, is accepting a proposal that essentially states he and his Government cannot be trusted with the public finances. I would like people to point out to me how having control over our budget proposals is anti-European. It is fine if the European Parliament wants to scrutinise it after we have announced our budgets in the Oireachtas. I find that members of the republican party have travelled a long way in being able to give over control of their budgets to the European Parliament. Senators: Hear, hear. Senator Joe O’Toole: It might be helpful if both of the main parties calmed down a little on this issue and earthed themselves into what is happening in the real world. The reality is that the discussion document from Europe is hardly an assault on our sovereignty. On the other hand, it is a bit rich for Fianna Fáil to describe Deputy Richard Bruton as a Eurosceptic or jingoistic; that is not his style. We are seeing the first bouts of a general election programme. It behoves those of us who are not involved in the parties to examine this issue with a differ- ent view. The reality is that European conditions on budgetary matters are not anything new. Before we ratified the Maastricht treaty we turned ourselves backwards in order to meet its conditions, including a budget deficit of 3% and 60% debt GNP ratio. Nobody in the main parties felt that was any sort of an imposition or intrusion on our sovereignty. When Deputy Bruton has regu- larly and correctly raised issues the response from the Government side has been over the top, and has been so on this occasion. He is correct about one thing — there is no openness in budgetary matters, but that was also the case when Fine Gael was in Government, I hasten to add. There is nothing new about that for the rest of us who have always asked for a more open approach to the budget. Before we continue this debate we should remember that there are 500,000 unemployed people in Ireland and 500,000 people who are struggling with mortgages who know that were it not for European intervention and involvement and the euro, we would we be paying mort- gage and interest rates four times that which we are currently paying. Senator David Norris: Hear, hear. Senator Joe O’Toole: For those people, me and unemployed people, the idea that Europe might be casting an eye over our budget is far from being an intrusion into our sovereignty. 660 Order of 13 May 2010. Business. Rather, it is a great reassurance and provides a sense of certainty which I welcome. The idea that we can share our views and discuss them with our European partners in order to ensure that none of the 27 member states goes AWOL again is something which should be proposed and not opposed from all sides. I ask the Government not to take that as support for its position, but to recognise that the questions being raised by Fine Gael are important and need to be responded to properly. I thank the Leader for the debate on the Croke Park agreement today and its structure, whereby the Minister will respond after hearing views from all different sides. That is important. I ask that we give some consideration to a point raised by my colleagues, Senators Feargal Quinn and Jim Walsh — who rarely gets things right, as we know, but sometimes raise matters of importance — yesterday. The Supreme Court judgment by Mr. Justice Adrian Hardiman on the tribunals raises issues of extraordinary importance. I do not want to interfere with the tribunals or second guess the Supreme Court. There are issues which should trouble all of us, in terms of how tribunals should operate, and I would like to have a discussion on that. We should not have a blame game, rather we should recognise to where we go from here. Senator Dominic Hannigan: On behalf of the Labour Party, I congratulate Mr. Owen Pater- son on his recent appointment as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Like many people in this House, I am a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, which meets on regular occasions, and as a result I have had the opportunity to meet Mr. Paterson. It shows the benefits of that body and provides an opportunity not just for Government members but also members of the Opposition on both sides of the sea to get to know each other and the ideas and philosophies of the various parties. I listened to Mr. Paterson this morning and in wishing him well I note his comments on corporation tax in the North and his interest in and research into the matter. Part of his research led him to conclude that the introduction of the low corporation tax rate in the South has led to tremendous benefits, in terms of inward invest- ment and job creation. I would be very concerned about any moves which may lead to an increase in the level of corporation tax. Yesterday’s draft proposals must be debated with respect to that fact. I heard Deputy Bruton on the radio this morning and I am not quite sure if the draft document goes as far as he suggested. He suggested it would lead to the Government ceding authority on the issue to other European countries. I do not think it goes that far but we need to have a debate on the matter because it is clear that the reaction to the proposal, not just here but elsewhere, such as in France where its Government is concerned about the proposal, means we need a debate. I would like to see such debate widened to include the issue of the euro because when it was introduced it was a unique experiment to create a major currency for hundreds of millions of people, akin to the United States dollar.