Vol. 183 Tuesday, No. 16 16 May 2006 DI´OSPO´ IREACHTAI´ PARLAIMINTE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES SEANAD E´ IREANN TUAIRISC OIFIGIU´ IL—Neamhcheartaithe (OFFICIAL REPORT—Unrevised) Tuesday, 16 May 2006. Business of Seanad ………………………………1205 Deaths of Former Members: Expressions of Sympathy ……………………1206 Order of Business …………………………………1211 Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages … … … 1223 Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Second Stage (resumed)…………………1244 Adjournment Matters: Third Level Places ………………………………1266 Hospital Services ………………………………1267 Ambulance Service ………………………………1270 1205 1206 SEANAD E´ IREANN community college, Lanesboro, County Longford. ———— I regard the matters raised by the Senators as suitable for discussion on the Adjournment. I De´ Ma´irt, 16 Bealtaine 2006. have selected those raised by Senators Tuffy, Tuesday, 16 May 2006. Browne and Moylan and they will be taken at the conclusion of business. Senators McHugh and ———— Bannon may give notice on another day of the Chuaigh an Cathaoirleach i gceannas ar matters they wish to raise. 2.30 p.m. Deaths of Former Members: Expressions of ———— Sympathy. Ms O’Rourke: We are saddened today that the Paidir. representatives of each party must rise to voice Prayer. sympathy on the deaths of two former Members of this House, John Mannion and Pat Codd. The ———— former Senator, John Mannion of Fine Gael, served on the agricultural panel in Seanad Business of Seanad. E´ ireann from 1969 to 1977. He was a member of An Cathaoirleach: I have received notice from Galway County Council for a long period, and Senator Tuffy that, on the motion for the of the former Western Health Board and other Adjournment of the House today, she proposes bodies. He was then elected to Da´il E´ ireann and to raise the following matter: subsequently to Seanad E´ ireann, and was well- liked. People in the west of Ireland talked about The need for the Minister for Education and his family. He believed strongly in representing Science to provide information (details the people and was a keen member of the supplied) on full-time third level places; and if county council. she will make a statement on the urgent need His father, John Mannion senior, had been a to find ways to ensure that such third level Deputy for Galway West between 1951 and 1954. places are filled in the future. He too was on the agricultural panel. His son fol- I have also received notice from Senator Browne lowed in his father’s tradition. of the following matter: Pat Codd, from Wexford, was a Member of this The need for the Ta´naiste and Minister for House from 1975 to 1977, having come in on a Health and Children to provide an update on Seanad by-election. He was a great champion of the improvement in services for people with the Wexford people having been a diligent and cystic fibrosis in the past 12 months and, in painstaking member of Wexford County Council. particular, the need to appoint a cystic fibrosis I am reading from Deputy Kenny’s press release consultant in Waterford Regional Hospital. because I did not know either gentleman so I must rely on this source. He believed in the I have also received notice from Senator Moylan power of politics to improve people’s lives. We of the following matter: all subscribe to that tenet because that is why we The need for the Ta´naiste and Minister for are in politics. He was well-known and everybody Health and Children to intervene with the mid- spoke well of him which is highly unusual in pol- lands-east Health Service Executive to provide itical life. an ambulance base and service from and into On behalf of the Fianna Fa´il Party, and its Edenderry, County Offaly. members, I express sympathy with the families of the late John Mannion of Clifden and the late Pat I have also received notice from Senator McHugh Codd of Wexford. of the following matter: The need for the Ta´naiste and Minister for Mr. B. Hayes: On behalf of my colleagues in Health and Children to indicate the timeframe this House, and on behalf of the Fine Gael for the permanent appointment to Letterkenny parliamentary party, I join the Leader’s General Hospital of a consultant breast sur- expression of sympathy for the families of former geon, the roll-out of breast screening to all Senators John M. Mannion and Pat Codd. John parts of the country and the indicative time- Mannion and his family are known throughout frame for the approved 70 extra beds at Letter- the country as coming from a distinct political tra- kenny General Hospital. dition in Galway-West. The Mannions have been in politics since the 1940s. John Mannion Senior I have also received notice from Senator Bannon was a distinguished Member of both Houses of the following matter: throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The need for the Minister for Education and In recent years my party colleagues were sad Science to provide an update on her commit- to hear that John M. was crippled with arthritis. ment to the refurbishment work at Lanesboro He has died young, at only 62 years of age. Our 1207 Deaths of Former Members: 16 May 2006. Expressions of Sympathy 1208 [Mr. B. Hayes.] Senator Pat Codd but we express our condol- hearts and sympathy go out to his wife, Doris, ences to the families of both. and their two children. They live in a beautiful location in Clifden from where politically it is dif- Mr. Ryan: Unfortunately I did not personally ficult to be elected in west Galway. John was a know either Senator Mannion or Senator Codd. great champion of Connemara and of Galway. As Occasions such as this provide the opportunity to the Leader of the House said, he had a dis- pay tribute to the principle of service as much as tinguished record of service on Galway County to individuals. It is worth repeating that their Council for many years. He was a Member of this service was worthwhile even though not all of us House from 1969 to 1973 and as a result of elec- would have known about it. I express my condol- tions was a Member of the Da´il from 1977 to ences to their families for their loss. It is certain 1981. that both of these men attempted to serve the I am reliably informed that he was a very country and their own communities and used all quick-witted and colourful character. He enjoyed the abilities they possessed both within and with- the company of other politicians and gave a life- out these Houses to do that service. The Labour long commitment to the people of Connemara Party wishes to be associated with the expressions and to the people of Clifden in particular. He was of regret and condolence. We also want to pay a businessman with many business interests who tribute to the service they gave and to the fact employed a large number of people in Clifden. We remember the late John M. Mannion today. that they choose to do it. Like all people who We also remember former Senator Pat Codd. put their names forward in an election, they were He was a politician who hailed from Enniscorthy, willing to accept the possibility of losing as well as County Wexford. I did not know him personally winning. Therefore, they were among the genuine but I have heard his memory being eulogised by risk takers in our society who take the risk not many colleagues in my party in recent months. for their own sake but for the sake of what they Curiously, he won a by-election — a by-election believe they can do for their communities. is a very strange animal in this House because Ar dheis De´ go raibh a anam. the result is known before the ballot takes place, assuming the Government of the day has a Mr. Dardis: On behalf of the Progressive majority in the House. He was selected in April Democrats, I join the other groups in extending 1975 to win a casual vacancy in this House. It says our sympathy to the family, friends and party col- a lot about the former Senator that the then leagues of the late Senators John M. Mannion Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, asked him to contest and Pat Codd. that by-election. He was a Member of this House Like Senator O’Toole, I would have met the from April 1975 until 1977. He was a councillor late Senator Mannion with Maurice Manning and former chairman of Wexford County when he was Leader of the House. Both Senators Council. Mannion and Codd came from distinguished He had a deep interest in and a passion for families in their respective parts of the country, agriculture and for rural affairs. He spoke in the families whose names would be well known House on many occasions on those matters. Col- within politics and well beyond that realm. Their leagues have informed me that in recent years he commitment to agriculture was also referred to, virtually dedicated his life to charity work and to of which I am aware from the past. Both of them Self-Help Ireland and raised large sums of money served their areas and the State well. They for that organisation and for other charities in the deserve to be remembered here today with affec- south east. I offer our deepest sympathy to his tion and regret. wife, Evelyn, to his sons, Mark and John and his daughters, Mary, Sarah and Joan. We remember Mr.