I agree with Senator Wilson in welcoming the comments of the Minister for Education and Skills. Subsequent to hearing his comments, I attended a meeting of the comhairle Dáil attended by some 100 people.

Was that for the whole south east?

No, it was just for one constituency. The main topic that came up among party members was people not being able to access grants for third level education. In some instances, people identified students who have had to leave college as a consequence. In one case, a mother who has been deserted by a husband is in receipt of €214 per week and is struggling to meet the cost of sending a child to college and had to take the child out of college as a result of what happened. As a result of the appalling outcome of SUSI, which the Minister championed, many people called Susie are applying by deed poll to have their names changed because they are so embarrassed by it.

Senator Heffernan set the proper tone in his contribution. I agreed with some aspects of what he said but not others. In this instance, we need to await the outcome of the inquest. There was an interesting programme on RTE Radio One this morning, where a medical expert raised certain questions that resonated with me. He said that certain questions need to be answered, including whether protocols were in place in the hospital, whether they were followed, and whether they were adequate. Will the Leader arrange for the Minister to come to the Chamber? I have concerns that a number of people may try to exploit the unfortunate tragic circumstances in Galway. Members have mentioned the X case. The man who championed abortion legislation in Britain based on mental health, Mr. David Steele, said he never envisaged a situation where up to 190,000 babies are aborted in Britain annually, many as a social convenience. We need to be very careful in the manner in which we approach this topic.

Reading the report of the young woman who lost her life in Galway hospital, I am deeply disturbed. It is a huge trauma to be visited upon a family and it is a tragedy. We should not make judgments or assessments until we have the full facts to hand. We do not know where that failure arose and we need to establish where failure was. The people of Ireland voted that the life of the mother was of equal value to the life of the child. Let us have the report discussed in the Chamber.

The Minister for Health received the report of the expert group last night. The Government must give an indication of its intentions to the Council of Europe by 30 November. Much will happen in this area in the next month. We need to think that when we are making decisions in the House, we are making decisions about the life of the mother and the life of the child. Let us proceed calmly and not try to score points on either side.

Following the comments of Senator Conway, I agree the Government should be prepared to take the bankers to court. The banks were bailed out by the taxpayer but not with the intention of shoring up the pensions of bankers who bankrupted the country. If we fail there, we should have the courage to take a constitutional amendment on the issue. On that notion, there will be more than a 32% turnout because that is how strongly the Irish people feel about it.

I ask the Leader to indicate whether the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport will come to the House soon, particularly in light of newspaper reports indicating CIE is in a severe financial crisis. I raised the issue to establish the policy of the Department. The Minister announced he would provide €36 million, which he subsequently withdrew. The annual report of CIE is due in the coming days and will not make for positive reading. Attempts are being made to squeeze more from unions. A cursory reading suggests the unions in the three companies, Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann and CIE, have been more than compliant in terms of making severe adjustments. There has been a reduction in the workforce and it looks like there will be further redundancies. My main concern is that it has been flagged that there may be the closure of further services. These services are not generating passenger numbers as high as earlier expectations. The sad reality is if the company goes down that road, it will be the death knell of rural Ireland. We have already had a controversy over the withdrawal of bus stops from Bus Éireann expressway routes across the north west and west. In that context, I want to establish the Department's policy on transport in light of the crisis emerging in CIE.

Does Senator Ó Domhnaill have a brief question? We are over time.

I acknowledge what has been said and agree with Senators Wilson and Walsh regarding the welcome statement from the Minister for Education and Skills last night. It must be followed by the Minister contacting all colleges and universities in the State and asking them not to put any pressure on any student, with regard to services in colleges or exams, until this fiasco is resolved. The second thing that must happen is additional staff being provided to SUSI. Some ten additional members of staff have been provided but it is not nearly sufficient. It is a step in the right direction. Everyone must learn from this. We have received e-mails saying information that could have been provided earlier, if the student had known, which shows the SUSI system is not working effectively or efficiently in comparison to the local authority or VEC system. While there were questioned over the latter, it was more effective and efficient than the current system. With only 3,000 students in receipt of grants, it is wholly unacceptable, particularly in light of how banks are dealing with students. No overdrafts or loans are available to students and many students are considering leaving college. That is a sad reflection on what has happened. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Education and Skills to the House to discuss the matter because we should all have the opportunity to make an input.