Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 22 Mar 2006

Vol. 616 No. 5

Leaders’ Questions.

Mr. Kenny

Following our day of double apology I wish to return to the situation in accident and emergency units around the country. After nine years in power with access to unprecedented funding the Government has failed miserably to provide the most basic frontline health services for people.

The Taoiseach is fond of quoting statistics, but he will be disappointed to hear that yesterday 314 people were on trolleys and chairs in accident and emergency units around the country. What is the status of the ten-point plan introduced by the Tánaiste, which was intended to deliver real improvements in accident and emergency units by last November? Last weekend Professor Drumm, chief executive of the Health Service Executive, said it would be at least two years before the problem could be resolved and that the situation now is worse than it was three and four years ago.

The Government has spent almost €60 billion on health services, a tripling of expenditure, but the service in accident and emergency units appears to be going backwards. Given that the same number of people are attending accident and emergency units as in 1998, can the Taoiseach offer any credible explanation for the behaviour in those units?

What is the Taoiseach's response to the shocking findings of a recent survey of accident and emergency units, including that in nine hospitals there were 900 assaults on staff, patients and visitors in these units? These attacks occurred when staff tried to break up fights, and when they were assaulted by patients high on drugs or intoxicated with alcohol. In one case a nurse was held at knife-point, in another a patient was stabbed in a cubicle and in a third a nurse was kicked in the abdomen.

The frontline staff in accident and emergency units must bear the brunt of the failure of the Government's commitment and promises to provide the safety and services that the people should expect. They deserve better than this. What measures will the Taoiseach take to see that this situation improves? Does he accept Professor Drumm's explanation that nothing will happen to bring about any real improvement for the next two years? Are these appalling and shocking stories to continue day after day, of people sitting in plastic chairs as closely packed as the seats in this Chamber, inaccessible to the comfort of seeing their relations, friends or families? Surely in 2006 we should be able to do better in accident and emergency units.

The Taoiseach

I will make a couple of brief points first. Deputy Kenny is correct in saying we have provided significant resources for the health services.

Mr. J. O’Keeffe

The taxpayer has provided them.

Ms O. Mitchell

That is surprising.

Mr. F. McGrath

We are still short.

The Taoiseach

I managed to complete one sentence without interruption. The Opposition should stop interrupting and let me speak. We have put in the resources and the staff. There have been significant improvements throughout the health service, in the level of cancer care, in paediatric medicine and in most of the difficult specialties there have been major and growing improvements.

I accept the accident and emergency units have not been as successful but in many of these units there has been success. The newly-built units are very good. I will not go into the figures for the number of patients on trolleys.

Mr. Connaughton

Of course the Taoiseach will not go into those.

The Taoiseach

My figure is not the Opposition's figure. I get a different figure.

Mr. F. McGrath

We need 500 new beds.

The Taoiseach

That row goes on every day.

Mr. Connaughton

That's the problem.

The Taoiseach

The figure I received for yesterday was 190. Deputy Kenny asked what we are doing about this.

Mr. McCormack

Nothing.

The Taoiseach

It is important that we make steady and substantial progress for patients. It is not acceptable to, or accepted by, Government that people, particularly older people, must wait a long time on trolleys before admission.

Mr. McCormack

Why are so many beds closed?

The Taoiseach

This affects their dignity and other issues arise. The ten-point plan, which involves a focussed implementation of actions, is under way. We are helping older people move out of hospitals when they are medically fit to leave. The home care package and the enhanced nursing home subventions——

Ms O. Mitchell

There cannot be a home care package.

Mr. McCormack

There is no home care package.

An Ceann Comhairle

Allow the Taoiseach to speak without interruption.

The Taoiseach

A total of 530 people have already received the new supports.

Mr. Stagg

It is only 20 minutes a day.

The Taoiseach

Many more will do so in the months ahead. We are working with the HSE to provide more home support to help people avoid admission to hospital.

Mr. Stagg

Where?

Mr. McCormack

There are no home supports.

The Taoiseach

We are also supporting the HSE's comprehensive flu vaccination campaign. We are providing step-down facilities for immediate care. To date 562 people have moved out of hospitals. The HSE provides 48 high-dependency long-term beds for the more severely ill. We are also putting in place an out-of-hours GP service and as I said previously, we have opened a new accident and emergency unit in St. Vincent's Hospital, the accident and emergency development and extension to St. James's Hospital is almost complete and a new accident and emergency admissions unit opened at the Mater Hospital in December, a 33-bed overflow unit. It closed last week because of the winter vomiting bug but has now re-opened.

I have had lengthy meetings on this issue with HSE personnel. They tell me that in Dublin hospitals, admissions to accident and emergency units have increased by about 20%, admissions of older people have increased substantially and twice as many people presented with influenza in the past six weeks compared to this time last year, because of the colder weather. Winter vomiting has been a feature every year.

Ms Lynch

Why?

The Taoiseach

The HSE has got clearance for another 250 private beds which will take long-term public acute patients. That is in addition to the 250 beds provided in November. The HSE informs me that it gets a benefit of about three months when the patients are removed. Older people then fill those beds and the difficulty recurs.

Deputy Kenny's last point is valid and the HSE is prioritising it. The HSE is trying to deal with the issue of comfort and dignity and sanitary requirements. Hospitals have made a number of proposals which the HSE is trying to deal with under the capital programme for this year, which should help. Some work has been done in the area but there is work to be done in hospitals in Letterkenny, Wexford, Tallaght, the Mater and Beaumont in terms of increasing bed numbers. I hope this will be helpful over the course of this year. It is not a matter of resources, which are available in all these cases. It is a matter of moving on and completing the plans.

Mr. Kenny

Over the past few months I have visited, as no doubt the Taoiseach has, quite a number of accident and emergency units throughout the country. The Government seems to miss the point that older people filling hospital beds are not there by choice. If the health system was properly planned and was in a position to deal with their requirements it would provide better facilities for them to be at home, where they want to be, so they would be in hospital only for the shortest possible time. I do not know if the Taoiseach and his Ministers appreciate the level of fear people have about going to hospital in the first place — fear of infection, of picking up some ailment other than what they are going to have attended to in hospital. That is a genuine fear among the general population.

What has happened to the three special injury units which were to be provided in 2005 and to the nine 50-bed convalescent units which were to be provided as step-down facilities? There should surely be some joined-up thinking between the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It is intolerable that as a consequence of the new social phenomenon of total abuse of alcohol and drugs, accident and emergency units in almost every hospital are visited at weekends by drunks and their hangers-on, who go there to cause intimidation and assault on front-line staff, who must bear the brunt of the Government's failure in this regard. Is it time that assaulting a member of staff in an accident and emergency unit was classed as a particular offence? Is it time for us to have special rooms, wet rooms as Deputy Twomey calls them, where people can be allowed the privilege of sleeping off their intoxication and be charged handsomely for that privilege? Their friends and hangers-on who cause assault, fear and intimidation of staff and patients must be removed from accident and emergency units. Is it time we realised the current situation is worse than it was nine years ago? How can the Taoiseach say the situation is improving when we know that the number of people attending accident and emergency units is the same as it was years ago, and that people are now attending in situations of far greater chaos, and with a greater sense of fear and intimidation? I raise this issue because front-line staff in all those units are bearing the brunt of public frustration at the Government's failure to plan properly for health situations and provide facilities and a service for people when they need them most. People deserve better.

The Taoiseach

There are more than 1 million inpatient hospital visits annually and thankfully, every bit of research shows that people in hospital in this country find the services and resources provided very satisfactory. There is a very high regard for all areas of the health services. People fear hospitals as they fear dentists and doctors but they are not fearful in the manner expressed by Deputy Kenny. We have a very good inpatient and day patient service. The accident and emergency area has always been a problem. It is not today or yesterday that drunks began to come to accident and emergency units, though it is only in the past 20 years that we have seen drug users attending them. It is true we now have a violent element, and gardaí are almost permanently based in the city hospital accident and emergency units. Security personnel have been there for many years.

In December 2004 we provided money for the acute medical units at Tallaght, Beaumont and St. Vincent's hospitals. The HSE then set up a mapping report for these rather than building them straight away, but they are building them now. I am sure there were good reasons for the delay, but they were not clear to us at the outset.

With regard to step-down places for immediate care, so far there are facilities for 562 people to move out of hospital into private care. I understand there is plenty of capacity in the private sector. The HSE told me yesterday it is now taking another 250 patients out of the acute public beds and putting them into longer-stay private beds. There is a cost element to that and Deputy Kenny is aware as I am that the old system whereby people came out on subvention, which existed up to the Supreme Court decision, has almost ceased. They are not moving, but waiting until they get the private facility. That is a fact of life and we must deal with it.

Mr. J. Higgins

It is all to do with big business.

The Taoiseach

Deputy Kenny also made a point about older people wanting to move out of hospital when they are medically fit and raised the issue of home supports. In the last budget we provided large resources to the HSE in an attempt to help people stay at home and have more comprehensive facilities there.

Mr. J. O’Keeffe

The Government is fooling only itself.

The Taoiseach

We have provided such facilities. The senior official in charge of this process at the HSE has set up a task force which includes accident and emergency consultants, respiratory consultants and geriatricians — front-line staff who know the area well. They are also bringing forward proposals on the dignity issue. It is unacceptable and unnecessary that there are sanitary problems with regard to chairs and trolleys. In the past few years, some of the hospitals put forward proposals which were dealt with. In the hospital I know best, the Mater, a very good new accident and emergency unit opened in December, with 33 beds. There was chaos there last week because of the vomiting bug and the unit closed, so the burden fell back entirely on the old accident and emergency unit, which was designed for a different century. The new hospital at the Mater should have started at Christmas but because of the paediatric issue it has not yet started. Hopefully it will start when it is decided where to locate the paediatric unit. That is not the fault of the Government as we provided the money two or three years ago.

In Letterkenny an 11 bed unit will open this month, later in the year a 30 bed unit will open, in Wexford 19 beds will be opened this year and in Tallaght a 41 bed unit will be opened. In regard to capacity expansion the HSE is looking across the health service where there are other difficulties. I have mentioned the areas where there are problems. In all the other hospitals, for example, in the new unit in Cork, St. Vincent's Hospital, and Blanchardstown, huge progress has been made and there have been few complaints. Obviously that changes when the figures for flu and the vomiting bug increase.

Deputy Kenny asked what is the difference between now and a number of years ago. There is one difference between now and a number of years ago. The number of people of an older generation presenting at accident and emergency units is increasing. Obviously we have to deal with that. It is unsatisfactory that we do not have a general practitioner service after 5.30 p.m. That is forcing people——

Ms McManus

The Government is delaying it.

The Taoiseach

We are not delaying it. The Government is quite prepared to——

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputy McManus, this is a Fine Gael question and not a Labour Party question.

The Taoiseach

——pay people to work after 6 p.m. and is prepared to pay for the general practitioner service. We have to get people to work. I hope we will get co-operation in the talks that are taking place. It is a fact of life, and I do not say this in a cynical way, that people do not stop getting sick at 5 p.m. or 1 p.m. on a Saturday. What we need in the negotiations is the co-operation of front line people to work those hours. They are not being asked to do that for nothing but for payment.

Mr. Rabbitte

I want to ask the Taoiseach about the implications of the High Court decision on the national aquatic centre. The Taoiseach will recall the Government made a decision in 2000 to build an aquatic centre in preparation, among other things, for the Special Olympics at an estimated cost of €30 million. However, it came in at €62 million. The trio of directors were the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, who——

A Deputy

Three wise men.

Mr. Rabbitte

——decided to award a 30 year lease in the property worth €62 million to Dublin Waterworld Limited. This turned out to be a shelf company with a share capital of €127 and no assets. When the judge was confronted with this he said that to transfer a lease to a company with a share capital of €127 and no assets was truly astonishing. Dublin Waterworld Limited then secretly transferred the lease to a Fianna Fáil businessman, Pat Mulcair, in what was described in court as a "tax driven deal" that allowed him €2.8 million in capital allowances per annum.

According to the judge Dublin Waterworld Limited only assigned its right to the lease of the aquatic centre to Mr. Mulcair on 30 April 2003 but instead of Mr. Mulcair taking up the lease an elaborate set of agreements were put together to protect Mr. Mulcair's claim for capital allowances. When one looks at the National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006 which is before the House one will find the most extraordinary provision in section 38 which provides that the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism shall have, and be deemed always to have had, power to hold and transfer shares in Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited and the establishment of the company shall be, and be deemed always to have been, as valid and effectual as if they had that power at the time of its establishment.

The only conclusion one can arrive at from that is that there is serious doubt as to the legal capacity of these three members of Government without statutory authority to cause a private company to be formed and to enter contracts relating to the acquisition, holding and transfer of shares. Will the Taoiseach tell the House what is going on? What kind of legislation, six years later, seeks to confer retrospective authority on the Taoiseach to make this kind of deal? How could he and his two fellow directors decide to assign this to a shelf company with a share capital of only €127 and no assets to administer this? The company secretly transferred its right in the lease to a businessman, well known to attend the Fianna Fáil tent at the Galway races, to facilitate him in €2.7 million capital allowances per annum, a lease that was revoked yesterday or taken back as a result of the judgment of the High Court.

The Taoiseach

Deputy Rabbitte is right on one thing that we did build a first-class aquatic centre for the Special Olympics.

Mr. Durkan

With or without a roof.

The Taoiseach

Thankfully it is still functioning extremely well. Deputy Rabbitte is incorrect as decisions were made by Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited, not by the three people he mentioned. The third issue is that he had the wrong party for Mr. Pat Mulcair. The Deputy will have to look elsewhere in the House for his allegiance.

Mr. O’Donoghue

And the wrong tent.

Mr. Durkan

There are two tents.

The Taoiseach

In the High Court yesterday, Mr. Justice Gilligan delivered his judgment in the case of Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited v. Dublin Waterworld Limited. Dublin Waterworld Limited operates the national aquatic centre under a 30 year lease from Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited. Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited took legal proceedings against Dublin Waterworld Limited for forfeiting of the lease and failure to comply with obligations under the lease which include the failure to pay rent, insurance and provide audited accounts. When the proceedings commenced it emerged that Dublin Waterworld Limited had transferred the beneficial ownership of the lease to Mr. Pat Mulcair. Deputy Rabbitte is correct in saying that was done secretly, unknown to Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited. It was transferred by Dublin Waterworld Limited to Mr. Pat Mulcair. Such a transfer of ownership should only have taken place with the agreement of Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited. That was entirely incorrect. Dublin Waterworld Limited sought relief against that forfeiture.

In his judgment, Mr. Justice Gilligan held with Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited on all counts. He found that Dublin Waterworld Limited had wilfully declined to honour its obligations pursuant to the lease of 30 April 2003. Accordingly, he declined to grant relief against the forfeiture and the case will come before Mr. Justice Gilligan again next week for finalising of the order. Therefore, I do not wish to make any comment on that.

The defendants will then have 21 days within which they may lodge an appeal to the Supreme Court. Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited's position is that the national aquatic centre will remain open to the public. Contingency plans to ensure the centre continues to operate as normal have been prepared in the event that the appeal is not taken. Hopefully we can move on. The proceedings had the strong support of the Minister and the entire Government throughout the last difficult period.

Our hope is that the centre will remain open. It will have to find a new way of functioning. My preference is that would be done by Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited. That is an option but perhaps other options may have to be looked at. The national aquatic centre is a world class centre as defined by everybody who has used it in European and international competitions and as declared by those who used in during the Special Olympics. It was built in record time to provide a state-of-the-art facility for a state-of-the-art Special Olympics competition of which we should all be proud.

Mr. Rabbitte

How can the Taoiseach say with a straight face that we built a first class water centre? In January, the roof blew off.

Mr. Treacy

There was a wind, Pat.

Mr. Rabbitte

The Taoiseach told the House it was because of the storm. In fact, it was established that it was because of a structural defect. Now it is alleged that the pool is leaking.

Mr. J. O’Keeffe

It is like the tunnel.

Mr. Rabbitte

How can the Taoiseach say this project was a first class achievement? As regards the Taoiseach alleging that Mr. Mulcair has a more ecumenical approach to the purchase of influence than the normal businessman the Members opposite assist, that makes little difference to the decision of the High Court. How was it justified to transfer such an important valuable State asset to a private company that had no assets and a share capital of €127?

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputy's time has concluded.

Mr. Rabbitte

How can the Taoiseach boast about the merits of it to the disabled when the fact is that the pool is not equipped to cope with many people with disabilities? Along with many of my colleagues, I had to make representations on behalf of a special needs school in my constituency. This is another case of gross incompetence, tax avoidance and waste of taxpayers' money. Ever since this project was embarked upon it proved to be haunted by bad judgment, bad decision making, bad building and bad decisions as regards the operation and its administration. Tremendous tax advantages have been conferred on a businessman whosever tent he is going into. How can the Taoiseach justify that? The Taoiseach, the Minister for hanging pictures and the Minister for Finance are now seeking retrospective justification in legislation currently before the House that asks the House to treat them as having the powers as if they had them at the time.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputy's time has concluded.

Mr. Rabbitte

This is a scandal and, once again, nobody on the Government benches puts up their hands and accepts responsibility for it.

Mr. Durkan

Why would they?

The Taoiseach

Deputy Rabbitte is commenting on the judgment of a case that was brought by the Minister——

Mr. Rabbitte

It was not brought by the Minister.

The Taoiseach

It was brought by Campus and Stadium Ireland Limited and supported by the Minister.

Mr. Rabbitte

Why did the Taoiseach say it was brought by the Minister?

The Taoiseach

Will the Deputy listen to what I am saying?

Mr. Rabbitte

The Minister did nothing.

The Taoiseach

Deputy Rabbitte has had his time.

Mr. N. Dempsey

What the Taoiseach is saying is much more accurate than the accusations Deputy Rabbitte made.

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputy, allow the Taoiseach continue without interruption.

The Taoiseach

The case was brought by Campus and Stadium Ireland Limited, supported strongly by the Minister, to rectify the problems that had arisen with Dublin Waterworld, which broke its lease. The Deputy asked why the company broke its lease and get to this position in the first place.

Mr. Rabbitte

That is the question.

The Taoiseach

It was because the judgment of Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited was to give it to that company on a tendered basis. It did that.

Mr. Rabbitte

The three of you would hand in your resignations if you were private directors. If you were private directors you would be removed.

The Taoiseach

Deputy Rabbitte is always wise after the event. If he had rang Campus and Stadium Ireland that day and told them what he knows now, it would not have made that decision. They did not know then.

Mr. Rabbitte

The matter was investigated by the Committee of Public Accounts at the time. The Taoiseach's then Attorney General, now the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, found that everything was okay in this particular regard.

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputy Rabbitte——

Mr. N. Dempsey

Deputy Rabbitte should listen to the truth, not the conspiracy theory.

An Ceann Comhairle

Minister Dempsey, the Chair is speaking. Deputy Rabbitte had two minutes to submit a question and one minute to submit a supplementary. He used seven minutes in total to submit his questions.

Mr. Rabbitte

I used half of the time that was allocated to the previous question.

An Ceann Comhairle

I do not dispute that. You are correct in that. The point I am making is that you were allowed make your contribution without interruption from anybody. You cannot now continue to use the remainder of the time to interrupt the Taoiseach.

Mr. McCormack

It is hard to resist.

Mr. Roche

The Deputy should try.

An Ceann Comhairle

Whoever is replying to a question is entitled to the same courtesy as every other Member. I ask that the Taoiseach be afforded that courtesy.

Mr. McCormack

He is only waffling.

Mr. O’Dea

The Government Members are now allowed to speak.

The Taoiseach

The point is that Campus and Stadium Ireland Development Limited made a decision based on its best judgment. It was dealing with Dublin Waterworld Limited, a company it ran into difficulty with for all the reasons I have already outlined. There is no need to go back over them. It then took legal action to deal with the situation and won its case on all counts. It does not take from the fact that Rohcon built a fine aquatic centre. During a severe storm the roof blew off because of a structural defect and it had to pay for it with no cost to the taxpayer for the work involved in that.

Mr. McCormack

Except the tax relief.

The Taoiseach

People in this House ranted about leaks because they are against the idea of an aquatic centre. They were against the development at Abbotstown from the very start.

Mr. Allen

With good reason.

Mr. Roche

The Deputy is a former Minister for sport.

The Taoiseach

Let us be honest. They were against everything we did for sport.

Mr. Rabbitte

Has the Taoiseach forgotten it was the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Tánaiste who were opposed to it?

The Taoiseach

I remember it well and when he called me Ceaucescu I did not jump up looking for an apology.

Mr. Durkan

Did the Taoiseach recognise him?

The Taoiseach

In fact, I did not get an apology but that is neither here nor there.

(Interruptions).

Mr. O’Donoghue

He is not so thin-skinned.

A Deputy

The Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, read Miriam Lord's article this morning.

The Taoiseach

I do not worry about these matters. I do not have sleepless nights or difficulties. I was taught at a very young age that sticks and stones might break my bones but names will never hurt me. I do not worry about any of these matters. I just get on with the job.

Mr. Allen

Perhaps the Taoiseach will tell the truth.

The Taoiseach

I would love to hear Deputy Rabbitte commend the huge progress this Government has made in sport in every way——

Ms O. Mitchell

The Taoiseach will not live that long.

The Taoiseach

——whether it is Croke Park, the grounds throughout the country, the money we put into Irish racing, which gave us the good results last week, rather than running around trying to find leaks and little things in legislation against Irish sport.

Mr. Rabbitte

A little thing like €62 million.

The Taoiseach

I am very proud of everything I have done and continue to do for sport.

Mr. Sargent

Yesterday, Members rightly spent time trying to find the truth behind the murder of the late solicitor, Pat Finucane. In the course of the exchange the Taoiseach mentioned comparisons, in terms of investigations, with Bloody Sunday in 1972 when 13 civilians were shot dead in Derry. I then read in The Irish Times that the military is investigating police allegations that soldiers shot dead a family of 11 in their home last week. The inquiry comes a day after a magazine published allegations that troops killed 15 civilians in another town last year. A criminal inquiry into those deaths was launched last week. The only difference is that the soldiers were not British but American and the families are in Iraq and not Derry or Belfast. Time magazine published accounts by townspeople to the effect that troops went on a rampage after a marine was killed by a roadside bomb west of Baghdad in November. The witness rejected an original US account that the 15 also died in the bomb blast. A young child stated: “I watched them shoot my grandfather first in the chest and then in the head, and then they killed my granny”. The Time article states that accusations that US soldiers often kill civilians, including children, and that little disciplinary action has resulted in the few cases investigated, has aroused Iraqi anger since the invasion. In the light of that, will the Taoiseach agree it is stomach churning to read about the Minister for Transport, Deputy Martin Cullen, doing a nixer for the Minister for Defence by heading off with Irish troops to New York to “welcome back US troops from Iraq”?

Mr. Gormley

Disgraceful.

Mr. Sargent

Does the Taoiseach at least admit that it was ill-judged? Without even blushing, the Minister, Deputy Cullen, said it was an honour to represent the Government. What is the Taoiseach's position on such an obvious double standard? Is this not the clearest indication yet that he fully supports US policy in Iraq? Does he agree that the invasion of Iraq has been entirely counterproductive? It has swelled the ranks of al-Qaeda and it has brought Iraq to the brink of civil war. It is time finally to condemn the killing of innocent children in Iraq and to end the facilitation of the movement of US troops through Shannon Airport, given those atrocities.

Mr. Gormley

Hear, hear.

The Taoiseach

I would kill——

Mr. Gormley

The Taoiseach would kill.

The Taoiseach

I would condemn the killing of anyone anywhere. If any of these atrocities that are being investigated turn out to have happened, then they are outrageous.

Mr. Sargent

What will he do about them?

The Taoiseach

There is no doubt about that.

Mr. Gormley

Why is he assisting the killers?

The Taoiseach

We are not assisting the killers. There are no Irish troops in Iraq.

Mr. Gormley

There are troops in Shannon Airport.

The Taoiseach

The Minister for Transport was invited by the Fighting 69th homecoming celebration committee to attend and speak at a public wreath-laying ceremony on 16 March at the Father Duffy statue in Times Square, which commemorates the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who served with the brigade. The regiment's battle flag was presented to the Irish nation by President Kennedy when he addressed the Houses of the Oireachtas in 1963. This flag is on permanent display here. The regiment is better known as the "Fighting Irish" and is the US army unit with the closest ties to Irish America. It has led the St. Patrick's Day parade up Fifth Avenue in New York every year for more than 150 years, so the Minister did nothing inappropriate.

Mr. Sargent

We know the Taoiseach does not jump to every invitation and the families of the Stardust victims can testify to that. I am not sure why he felt compelled to send the Minister to that ceremony at the drop of a hat. The Prime Minister of Italy, who is very pro-US, has demanded that the US patrol involved — it was the fighting 69th — in the killing of an Italian during the rescue of an Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, be brought to justice. Will the Taoiseach stand back from his blind indifference to the slaughter in Iraq? It is all very well for him to say he condemns the killing of children, but if this country is neutral and condemns killing, how can the Government continue to facilitate the troops involved in such atrocities on their way through Shannon Airport? How can he stand back and not demand that those guilty of war crimes be punished? Does he believe the decision by President Bush to land in Shannon and rally his troops was an abuse of Irish neutrality and of the Taoiseach's sheepish support for his bloody misadventure in Iraq? Can the Taoiseach take a stand and not just speak from both sides of his mouth on the issue?

When he was in America, what did the Taoiseach say to President Bush on the conflict in Iraq? Did he tell the President that he would have to look at the issue of facilitating the passage of US troops through Shannon? Did he give any timeframe for it?

The Taoiseach

I remind the Deputy that there is a multinational force in Iraq and not just US forces.

Mr. Boyle

Ninety per cent of the force is American.

The Taoiseach

I condemn absolutely the slaughter inflicted on the people of Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein, as well as the current atrocities. The international force currently in Iraq was requested by the UN on 8 November 2005 to reconstruct and organise Iraq. The Deputy is asking me to break a UN resolution and I will not do so.

Mr. Boyle

The resolution does not encourage rendition.

Mr. D. Ahern

The Deputy should check the resolution. He should check the facts.

An Ceann Comhairle

Allow the Taoiseach, without interruption.

The Taoiseach

It was appropriate that the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, spend some time with the Fighting Irish as part of his trip. I am surprised that the Deputy feels that it was inappropriate.

Mr. Gormley

What about Shannon Airport? Will he answer the question?

The Taoiseach

I did answer the question.

Mr. Sargent

The Taoiseach has blood on his hands.