On the health information Bill, it is reported that the HSE sent correspondence to the Department of Health in which it sought a budget increase of €1.4 billion for 2015. This would represent a net increase of approximately €900 million. As the Tánaiste is aware, the HSE was only granted an increase of €115 million in the budget. The Minister for Health is on record as denying that any request such was made or that he was seeking anything like that amount that was requested. What happened in the period between the correspondence in question being received in the Department of Health and the announcement of the budget? There has been a deafening silence in respect of this matter. Perhaps the Tánaiste will provide a commitment that the relevant information will be made available to the House.

In the context of the industrial relations (amendment) (No. 2) Bill, the Tánaiste will be aware that the trade union Mandate is in the process of balloting its members in Dunnes Stores. Retail workers in Dunnes Stores are encountering extreme difficulties in terms of how their zero-hours contracts are being implemented. I understand their grievances have been brought to the attention of management. What is happening is very unfair to workers because they face losing part of their salaries if strike action is taken. Surely it must be possible for an intervention to be made in order that a satisfactory solution to the dispute might be found.

I anticipate that the collective bargaining legislation to which the Deputy just referred will be introduced later this year. As the Deputy knows, the HSE received significant increases in its budget for this year and last year. It was also the recipient of sizeable supplementary budgets. I understand that major challenges remain in the context of improving both the health service and levels of delivery within it. This year, the HSE received its first significant budget increase in a very long time.

This morning we learned that the HSE's CEO, Mr. Tony O'Brien, warned the Government that its failure to provide sufficient funding for the health service this year will lead to significant clinical risks for patients. Mr. O'Brien's memo to the Department of Health indicates that these risks are most acute in the context of accident and emergency departments-----

Is the Deputy seeking a debate?

-----maternity care, vital procedures and primary care. In light of what I have just outlined, there is an urgent need for the Minister for Health to make a full statement to the Dáil on this issue. There have been conflicting accounts from the Government in respect of funding requests from the HSE in respect of the health service. It is essential that the Minister come before the Dáil to set out the position in clear and unequivocal terms, particularly in the context of contacts he has had with and the nature of requests made to him by the HSE.

I have raised the matter of the Constitutional Convention with both the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach but I have not got very far with either of them. It is clear that the Government is not going to hold referendums on a number of proposals and recommendations made by the convention, much less schedule debates on the issues involved. Will the Tánaiste at least clarify the Government's position on the removal of the women-in-the-home clause from the 1937 Constitution, as the convention recommended? Does the Government share the view that this clause should be removed from the Constitution?

On the question of the Minister for Health making a statement or taking part in a debate in the House in respect of both the additional funding provided to the health service for this year and the way in which the Minister is seeking better deals with regard to drug prices, I am quite sure the Whips, subject to discussions among them, would be happy to arrange for this to happen at an appropriate time.

The Government has received the reports of the Constitutional Convention and it is committed to holding two referenda in the early part of the summer in respect of marriage equality and the age of qualification for those who wish to stand as candidates in Presidential elections. We do not have any proposals to hold further constitutional referenda at this point. The Government has received the convention's recommendation regarding the women-in-the-home clause in the Constitution. However, no date has been set for a referendum in respect of that matter.