The programme for Government contains a commitment to reform and consolidate the ethics in public office legislation. When are we going to see that legislation? It is over four years since the commitment was given.

There have been incredible delays in all of this. It is 14 months since the review report was published. We know the important areas that are covered by it. We should not have any further delay. It is 20 years now since SIPO started identifying the serious gaps in its powers. It is supposed to be a watchdog but it seems to be more of a lapdog at this stage because of the failure of successive Governments to give it the powers it so desperately needs. In its annual report every year, SIPO identifies all the areas wh…

That is a really disappointing response that the Minister expects the heads of the Bill to go to Government in a short number of months when, at most, there is a year left in this Government. It is quite clear that even if we do see the heads of this legislation in the next few months, it will entail pre-legislative scrutiny, drafting and then the passage of legislation. I do not see any prospect of that happening before the general election. This is a significant reflection on the Government's inability to recogni…

There is no evidence of that.

There is not a hope in hell of this legislation being through before the general election. That is the bottom line on this.

The details that emerged during the inquest of 16-year-old Aoife Johnston were horrific. She did not need surgery; she needed an antibiotic. Instead of receiving the care she needed, she was left to die. On the night that Aoife lay dying, one doctor was trying to manage 191 emergency department patients. Medics at the inquest described the emergency department that night as a war zone and grossly dangerous. Consultant Jim Gray described the emergency department that night as a deathtrap and said it is still a death…

I thank the Taoiseach. I am not suggesting that acquiring Barrington's Hospital is going to solve all the problems by any means but it will make a significant contribution to expanding capacity. It is an existing operating hospital and could be brought onstream very speedily. I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach will pursue that further. Other critical things obviously need to happen in regard to UHL. The UL Hospitals Group is the only hospital group in the country that does not have a model 3 hospital. That has b…

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion and providing us an opportunity to debate the cost of fuel. There is no doubt but the high price of petrol and diesel has had a huge impact on workers and families across the country, in particular in rural Ireland. That is why interventions like excise duty cuts have been required. After two years it is surely time for the Government to outline its plan for the future because market volatility and price uncertainty look like they are here to stay. However, it seems that sh…

We need time allocated for an urgent debate on the implications of the ending of the Covid payment for healthcare workers. Many of them face losing everything, including their health, career, financial security and, in some cases, their homes. We applauded the bravery of these healthcare workers when they selflessly went into work on our behalf. We commended them on that. Now it appears they are being abandoned. Does the Taoiseach accept that the Government needs to fulfil its duty of care to these workers? Can we …

Last week, amid all the speculation about whom the Taoiseach would promote, there was a lot of talk about geography and, clearly, that has influenced his decision-making around that. Does the Taoiseach accept that this promotes the practice of parish pump politics, or certainly the perception of it, where a Minister and holding ministerial office are more about delivering goodies for your constituency than about considering the public good? Does he accept that Ministers must have a national remit and that they shou…

-----and that there would be a rationale for those decisions?

I would welcome the Taoiseach's commitment to doing that.

I thank the Sinn Féin Party for tabling this motion, which the Social Democrats will be very happy to support. It is deeply regrettable that the implementation of the national cancer strategy is clearly no longer a priority for this Government. At last week's meeting of the Joint Committee on Health, the message from the Irish Cancer Society was received loud and clear - the strategy is being starved of funding.

For a long time, our cancer strategies were the success stories of the health service. They were prime examples of what the HSE could achieve if sustained investment was matched by political will. Patient outcomes were greatly improved by the first and second strategies, launched in 1996 and 2006, respectively. According to the Irish Cancer Society, between 1994 and 1998, just 44% of Irish people were alive five years after a cancer diagnosis. By 2018, those survival rates had increased to 65%, which was a huge ach…

-----not least in relation to radiation therapists. We are told it is being dealt with, but it seems it is still under consideration and awaiting a Government decision.

There is no justification for this situation. These are people who are essential to saving people's lives.

These are people who have serious cancers yet the Government has failed to act to tackle this obvious issue that needs to be dealt with.

There are also issues in relation to delays with visas and when it comes to accreditation with CORU. The solutions are there. What we need now is action from the Government.

Its failure to take that action and to be serious about the cancer energy is absolutely unforgivable at a policy level and certainly for the many families depending on the Government to take action.

It is completely inexplicable.