We read today that a 90 year old woman faces a €1,500 bill in a satellite dish case following a planning enforcement by Dublin City Council. Is this what we have come to? All of us in this House have heard of numerous cases where councils failed to take enforcement measures against people who flagrantly disregarded planning laws, yet a 90-year old woman was taken to court over a satellite dish which she got as a birthday present. The context is the promised planning and development Bill. I ask that a clause would be inserted in the Bill to ensure something like this does not happen again, and that some sense of decency and humanity prevails in terms of how we enforce planning laws, because God knows an awful lot of them have not been enforced. People with far greater clout get away with far more than a senior citizen who has been dragged through the courts at such an age.

The planning and development Bill was promised by the Government. We read on Sunday and Monday about rent now being tied to inflation for a four-year period. Could the Taoiseach confirm that such a legislative proposal will be introduced within the next month? When can we expect the legislation about rent certainty and tying rent to inflation for a four-year period?

I seek clarification from the Taoiseach on the implementation of the programme for Government in terms of health. The Government said in the programme that it would introduce universal health insurance, UHI, with equal access to care for all. The document stated that under this system, there would be no discrimination between patients on the grounds of income or insurance status and the two-tier system of unequal access to hospital care would end. For good measure, the Government was very clear and specific four and a half years ago when it stated that a system of universal health insurance would be introduced by 2016, with the legislative and organisational groundwork for the system complete within this Government’s term of office. It was further stated that everyone would have a choice between competing insurers and that UHI would provide guaranteed access to care for all in public and private hospitals. It was stated that Exchequer funding for hospital care would go into a hospital insurance fund. There is an entire page on it but I will not go on about it at length, except to say that it was stated that the legislative basis for UHI would be established by the universal health insurance Act.

It was stated that a patient safety authority, incorporating HIQA, would be established and that the Government would act speedily to reduce costs in the delivery of both public and private health care and in the administration of the health care system. The document goes on and on for approximately eight pages in terms of the pathway to universal care insurance, the hospital care purchase agency and stating that legislation would be introduced. Reference was made to an expansion in the care for older people and community care. The programme for Government stated that there would be additional money every year and more home care packages every year. It was stated that the fair deal system of financing nursing home care would be reviewed, with a view to developing a secure and equitable system of financing for community and long-term care which supports older people to stay in their homes. Four and a half years later-----

They are all the things Deputy Martin did not do when he was in government.

-----the review is being published but no system has been put in place. There is also reference to integrated care, cost control, health administration, capital developments and mental health, among other areas. This is important. Will the Taoiseach confirm to the House that everything I have outlined that he said would be implemented within the lifetime of the Government will not be so implemented, in terms of legislative commitments on universal health insurance? The reason that is important is the Government is now producing a whole series of new five-year plans – capital development plans and plans for this and that-----

Plans Deputy Martin only ever dreamed of.

I remind the Government and Government Deputies that they should please be very careful-----

Deputy Martin should know.

-----about what they will promise the people, because they will not buy it in the context of the programme for Government. It is an extraordinary document. I asked the Taoiseach two years ago whether he would review it, rewrite it or update it, but he refused.

Deputy Martin has made his point.

When the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, said he could not implement the changes, the Taoiseach gave out to him and said, "Behave yourself, Minister Varadkar, you had better implement it." Could the Taoiseach confirm that this is not going to happen within the lifetime of the Government?

Is that what Mr. Ahern said to Deputy Martin?

Could he also explain why the health information Bill has been taken off the list of legislation that was published by the Chief Whip recently? It has been on the legislative schedule for four and a half years, each year without fail. It was a commitment to introduce a major upgrade in IT capabilities in the health systems.

I am pleased Deputy Martin reads my correspondence.

Why is the Bill no longer listed?

In the context of the health reform Bill, the Government promised that the HSE would cease to exist over time. That was promised in 2011. While the Bill is listed, it states that it is not possible to indicate when publication is expected at this stage. That is a phrase we have become used to over the past four years but now that we are getting to the end stage, I suggest to the Chief Whip that he would change the terminology and say the Bill will not be introduced during the lifetime of the Government.

Could the Taoiseach indicate when we can expect the finance Bill? Will it contain any provision for a bank levy in terms of banks that refuse to cut their variable mortgage interest rate? The Minister, Deputy Noonan, has said different things at different times. He has huffed and puffed and said he would talk to the banks, that he would intervene, that he would introduce a bank levy, yet today he said competition is a better way of doing it. That was his most recent iteration on the interest rate saga. He has taken no action whatsoever.

He has done fairly well so far, though.

In respect of the criminal justice Bill, gardaí are dealing with very outdated equipment and surveillance technology and they are hopelessly under-resourced to fight organised crime, general criminality, fuel smuggling and laundering, smuggling and so on. When can we expect the criminal justice (offences relating to information systems) Bill, which is to deal with cybercrime, to be introduced? I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his forbearance.

The planning and development Bill does not need a clause that requires common sense. I do not know the details of the senior citizen in question but I have heard the headlines on the radio. Clearly, anybody dealing with an issue like that should be able to apply a measure of common sense and not have this end up in court.

Universal health insurance will not be introduced in 2016. I will have to update Deputy Martin about the list he read out to see what has happened in respect of the nine or ten issues he legitimately raised.

It has not happened yet.

That has happened. I am talking about what has happened with the issues he has raised. I confirm to him that universal health insurance will not be introduced by 2016 and the Minister has made that clear already. As a result of the fact that we now have a fiscal space, we are able to put together a programme out as far as the budget of October 2020, which will be just over €3 billion in respect of capital expenditure for health facilities, primary care centres, hospital facilities and so on. We can and will be able to afford that and, hopefully, it will go a long way towards improving the facilities for people who work in the health services and for patients.

The health information and patient safety Bill is there in section B. The bank levy is a matter for the budget and the Minister has referred to this on a number of occasions. He has been having meetings with the banks and will present his budget on 13 October.

The criminal justice Bill to which the Deputy referred will be taken this session. I will send Deputy Martin a note on what has or has not happened in respect of the list of issues he raised.

I have already received the note. It states that nothing has happened.

I will see that it does not contain bland generalities.