I wish to raise an issue in a non-political way and to put on record my grave concern and that of my party at the manner in which the proposed inquiry into the death of Savita Halappanavar is proceeding. All of us would be concerned that Mr. Halappanavar has said that he will not engage with the HSE investigation. That must be taken on board by the Minister for Health. We had a situation yesterday where three of the Galway medics were stood down. I am not impugning their reputations in any way but I believe they should not have been selected. The decision was made by the Minister to stand them down and that is fine. However, this inquiry will not go any further and will not get to the nub of the matter without the co-operation of the family.

I will say nothing more on the issue now except to ask the Acting Leader to raise our grave concerns with the Minister. A way forward must be found. We agree that we need to get to the truth as quickly as possible but we need the co-operation of Mr. Halappanavar and Savita's family, who have lost a wife and daughter. I ask the Acting Leader to raise our concerns with the Minister for Health directly.

On numerous occasions in this House over the last five weeks I have raised the issue of the home help cuts. I have received no answer that is sufficient. The only answer I have received to date asserts that both Government parties are committed to providing health care services to people in their homes. If the Government was so committed it would not have cut 950,000 hours from the system.

I am sure everyone on the other side of the House has received representations regarding the arbitrary cuts to the numbers of home help hours. I have dealt with numerous such cases. Two weeks ago in Swords I met 320 home help workers who did not know what was going on. Cases are not being properly assessed before cuts are made across the board. When I raise an issue, I am told an assessment will be carried out. I previously described the example of an 88 year old double amputee who had had his hours cut. When I raised his case with the HSE, I was told it would assess him, with the result that his hours were restored. If savings are to be sought in this area, a proper assessment of clients is required. This is happening all over the country. Will the Acting Leader and her Labour Party colleagues give a commitment that there will be no further cuts to home help or home care packages in the forthcoming budget? Will they also commit to ensuring the 450,000 hours cut at the end of August will be restored? Assessments should be conducted on the basis of need rather than as an accounting exercise aimed at saving €8 million. It makes no sense. The more people who lose home help hours, the more will end up in hospitals where they neither want to be nor need to go.

All of us share Senator Darragh O'Brien's view that a way forward needs to be found in the inquiry into Savita Halappanavar's death. The trauma endured by her husband is compounded by the confusion surrounding the inquiry. Mr. Halappanavar stated when he returned to India after Savita's death that there was complete silence on the part of the HSE. He was not contacted by the hospital for a full two weeks. That is surprising, given that hospitals are obliged to conduct internal inquiries by their own risk review groups in the event of sudden deaths of this kind. Such a review should have commenced within hours of her untimely death and would surely have involved Mr. Halappanavar. This practice is common to all institutions. Were such incidents to happen in the Houses of the Oireachtas, an airport or a school, such an internal inquiry would be obligatory. The resulting report would indicate whether guidelines were followed and could establish the paper trail and facts surrounding Savita's death. I would like to know the status of the report of the review group and call on the Acting Leader to inquire of the Minister for Health as to its whereabouts. Given that Savita Halappanavar died almost one month ago, on 28 October, the internal report should have been completed by now and I ask that it be released immediately. If it has not been completed, why not? Has the review actually been started?

An independent inquiry must also take place. It cannot be organised or managed by the HSE because it has its own questions to answer. The inquiry could extend beyond an internal review aimed at establishing the facts to take account of the complexity of the issues arising from Savita's tragic death, including the questions raised by Mr. Halappanavar. I urge the Minister to bring the expert review group's report to the Cabinet as a matter of urgency and publish it immediately afterwards. The Government is committed to reporting to the European Court of Human Rights by the end of November and, as a newly elected member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, a breach of that order would be extraordinary.

In regard to the situation in Gaza, I am sure we share enormous concern about the slowness of the emerging ceasefire. I ask the Government to reconsider Israel's membership of the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement, EuroMed, which allows it to engage in free trade with the European Union. The agreement is based on respect for human rights and democratic principles. Should we continue to allow Israel's inclusion in the agreement, given what has happened?