With regard to the action taken by the Garda Síochána and the HSE concerning two children, one in Tallaght and one in Athlone, I ask people to be careful about knee-jerk criticism of the force and the HSE in this regard. I agree wholeheartedly with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, and welcome his announcement of a swift investigation and independent report by the Ombudsman for Children, which is correct. Can one imagine a situation, if there had been a doubt and the Garda or the HSE had not acted, in which, God forbid, something happened? I ask those who saw fit yesterday evening and will see fit this morning to criticise the Garda and HSE workers to be careful doing so. In the past we have had incidents in which earlier intervention would have assisted children; therefore, I do not think we can leave anything to chance. That is my personal view. I do not think we can leave anything to chance if there is any doubt whatsoever. I want that clear message sent from here today. I am concerned that the criticism that has rained upon the Garda and the HSE might discourage people from putting forward cases about which they are concerned.

I wish to raise my continued concern about private health insurance. As I have raised the matter on several occasions in the past two years, it is not just because of the budget provisions. As Members will know, more than 300,000 people have given up their private health insurance policies. A number of specific examples have been given to me. Last night I was told about a retired couple, in which the wife is aged 65 years and the husband, 66, who have a health insurance policy with a renewal date of 1 January. In advance of the renewal date they inquired of VHI the effects that the budget would have on their plan, which is called HealthPlus Extra - Plan B with options. It is not what the Minister for Finance would call a gold-plated plan. The retired couple discovered that their premium would increase from a net cost of €283 to €391.90 per month. I can give numerous examples of similar cases. If the reports in the Irish Independent today are correct, the Minister for Health shares my concerns and those of my party and others that we are facing a major crisis. Apparently, the private insurers have already flagged a price increase of between 10% and 15% to take effect from next December. The further reduction or capping of tax relief on the first €1,000 for adults and €500 for children will force thousands of people out of private health insurance. Either the Minister for Finance made a grave error and based his decision on incorrect information, or he knew exactly what he was doing. If it is the latter then why did he tell the Dáil in his statement that the measure would affect a minority of policyholders who had, to use his words, "gold-plated" private health insurance policies? I gave the example of a standard plan for a retired couple from Portmarnock. It is not a gold-plated plan, but they are looking at an increase of nearly €100 per month. As I have requested previously, I ask the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, to clarify this serious matter. Did he make a mistake? Did he mislead the Dáil? With that in mind, I shall propose an amendment to the Order of Business. I request that the Minister come here to make a statement clarifying on what he based his decision to cap tax relief on private health insurance. I want him to confirm whether his Department is now saying 577,000 policies will be affected, which does not seem like a minority to me. The Irish Insurance Federation has stated 1.2 million policies will be affected. Whatever way one examines the matter, a significant number of normal people will be hammered by the initiative. I want the Minister to attend the House for one hour today to explain his rationale in this regard.

Senator Darragh O'Brien is right to urge caution in the commentary on the very difficult and traumatic cases of the two Roma children. We all welcome the fact that they were returned to their families and that in the end there were no grounds for the concern that was raised by the Garda. However, the two cases have raised very serious questions. It was good to be in the Chamber last night when the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, gave his response to the news that the children had been returned. He spoke in very measured and appropriate language. He took the appropriate action immediately and ordered inquiries into how the situations arose. His words were carefully chosen, yet they adequately expressed the concerns felt by all of us, particularly parents, at the way events have unfolded over the past couple of days. One must also respect the statements by the families seeking privacy. A measured response is appropriate but I welcome the inquiries into the actions of the Garda.

I welcome last night's debate on the direct provision system, for which the Minister, Deputy Alan Shatter, was present throughout. It was a model of the type of debate that we do so well in the Seanad. It was a well crafted motion put together by Senator Jillian van Turnhout and her colleagues, on which there was no division. We all agree that the way forward is to be constructive and to examine constructively how best to reform direct provision in order to ensure we do not see lengthy delays in the processing of applications and people left in direct provision hostels for long periods.

On today's Order Paper a motion, to be taken without debate, has been tabled on the report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office. The committee debated the proposal at length over a couple of meetings and took the decision that the proposal had a potential to breach the principle of subsidiarity. We have issued a reasoned opinion to that effect which formed the substance of the motion.

It is a good example of the technical and often time-consuming scrutiny the committees carry out on EU matters. That is the type of scrutiny in which legislators must engage.

I ask the Leader for a debate on surveillance in the light of the concerns that Chancellor Merkel has raised that her private mobile telephone was apparently being tapped by US authorities. I note the response from the US Government did not deny that her telephone had been tapped in the past. It raises very serious concerns about levels of surveillance on European Union citizens.