At 3.26 p.m. yesterday the Department of Finance informed my office that it had decided not to respond to the European Commission's consultation paper on structural reform of the banking sector. I raise this matter in the context of No. 30 on the Order Paper and of discussions in which I, as a Member of this honourable House, engaged with the Department. I took it upon myself to make a submission in respect of the consultation paper because structural reform of the banking sector is absolutely vital in light of the problems that sector has created for this country. I am pleased to inform Members that the Seanad went to bat for Ireland in respect of this major issue-----

Hear, hear.

-----when the Department of Finance would not do so. It is particularly ironic that the Minister of State at that Department, Deputy Brian Hayes, who agreed to the arrangement whereby there would be no response to the consultation paper, will yet again be seeking the abolition of the Seanad or perhaps the cycling Taoiseach will take a day off from his bike in order to come before us on that matter. At present, this House is the only arm of the Oireachtas or Government which is making submissions in respect of this vital matter. We sent copies of our submission to Senators who we thought might be interested in it and we would be delighted to forward copies to others. This is another example - there have been dozens of such examples in recent days - of the vital role the Seanad plays.

The G20 is meeting in Moscow today in order to discuss matters relating to corporate taxation. This is a follow-on from the discussions held by the G8 in Enniskillen.

The report from the OECD identified a raft of loopholes used by companies in the technology, pharmaceutical and consumer goods sectors to reduce their liability. I am proud of our 12.5% rate and I have sought to have it extended to Northern Ireland, but tax lawyers and accountants, the so-called fiscal termites, have been working to reduce it. Parliaments have to be on guard against that.

A report on the NTMA's activities was released yesterday. Page 20 of it notes that the State Claims Agency now has 2,652 clinical claims under management, with an estimated liability of €969.8 million. We have discussed this issue with the Minister, Deputy Reilly. The HSE urgently needs to address the number of claims against the health service. We have undertaken many initiatives to improve safety on our roads and in other areas but there is the best part of €1 billion in claims against our hospital system, and it is increasing rapidly. The hospitals, consultants and everybody involved should address this problem, the scale of which is increasing and the addressing of which will be extremely expensive.