I thank the Leader and Senator Ivana Bacik for alerting us to the social entrepreneurs who will speak later. It is a commendable exercise.

Yesterday the House was alerted to the imminent dangers of the practice of medicine by doctors without insurance, with all sides of the House agreeing on the urgency of the matter contained in Senator Colm Burke's Bill. The only element not in agreement was, of course, the Department of Health. Committee Stage is scheduled for next Tuesday and should go ahead. We cannot be alerted by Senator Colm Burke to a major problem and allow uninsured doctors to practise for a minute longer than necessary. We do not want the Bill to go the same way as when Senator John Crown alerted the Department of Health to the dangers of smoking in cars when children were present; that Bill disappeared into the Department nearly a year ago. The Department and other branches of the permanent Government should take note of what happens in Parliament. Now that we have been alerted by Senator Colm Burke to the problem of uninsured practise of medicine, it cannot be allowed to continue for a minute longer than is necessary.

There are manifestations of the same kind of problem with other Ministers and Ministers of State. The Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock, has refused to allow any role in Science Foundation Ireland for the Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Dublin Society. Civil servants do not have a monopoly of wisdom. A completely inadequate regulatory impact assessment was circulated approximately six weeks late for the taxi regulation Bill, which is not good enough either.

We have been alerted to the practise of medicine by people without insurance and that matter should be dealt with urgently. I urge the Leader to ensure the Bill can proceed and the Department can table amendments, as we all do. It is an urgent measure that should proceed. I am delighted that Senator Colm Burke is not deterred and has published another Bill today dealing with civil law and missing persons. I commend him for his energy and commitment. He performs a notable role here.

We want regulatory impact assessments, as they are not a discretionary part of governance in this House. They must be circulated with a Bill and comprehensively cover their contents. We are paid to play a role and are very well led by the Cathaoirleach and the Leader. Nevertheless, we have been shoddily treated on the medical insurance, Science Foundation Ireland and taxi regulation issues. We want an improvement and I am sure the Leader will ensure this will happen.

I join Senator Sean D. Barrett in commenting on Senator Colm Burke's excellent Bill which received unanimous support in the House yesterday. It caters for a problem that is not extremely frequent, but it would nevertheless close a loophole, the closing of which should be encouraged. I agree with all the comments on who is in charge. We do not know exactly what has happened, but I encourage the Minister to allow the Bill to go through, as was intended up to an hour before its arrival in the House. It was considered acceptable up to that point.

There is a dangerous gap in Ireland in the detail of statistics for children, particularly with regard to obesity levels.

In a week when we have learned that one in four children in Ireland is obese, it is something to which we need to give urgent attention. On the website of the UK National Health Service there is an obesity or body mass calculator. Parents can input basic information on their children and assess where they are. When a child is born, he or she is weighed regularly to see that he or she is gaining weight in the appropriate way. There should be a system whereby the progress of a child's health, comprising all the various components, including weight, can be assessed not on a seriously regular basis but certainly frequently. Moreover, once a child presents to a general practitioner showing signs of obesity, serious measures should be taken to deal with it. There has been public consultation and a good report on the subject of lifestyle and how to reduce cancer rates and increase life expectancy. It is time for us to debate this issue with the Minister in order that he can realise the conclusions of the report and take on board many of the concerns being raised by Members on a regular basis, especially with regard to the increasing obesity problem.