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Seanad
‹ Order of Business

Kidney transplants and Order amendment

Summary

Senator Burke highlights a recent surge in kidney transplants and calls for continued progress; Senator Barrett seconds the amendment to change the day’s business while paying tribute to Mandela.

There is a good news story in the health area. I was glad to hear that in the past week there were 12 kidney transplants done in a four day period. It was a significant achievement by the medical personnel involved in the hospitals concerned. This indicates the work that must be done. When we entered government, there were on average 150 transplants a year. We need to target a figure of 300 per annum and progress is being made in that regard. It was down to a lack of planning that this occurred between 2000 and 2010. Referring back to what my colleagues said about waiting lists for children, there has been a lack of planning in medical provision for children in the sense that the birth rate has increased dramatically, from 60,000 to 75,000 per annum. There was an equivalent lack of planning for an increase in paediatric consultants during that ten-year time period. As a result, we are suffering the consequences. It is quite easy for Members on the other side of the House to criticise the Minister on this issue, but there was a lack of planning in employing additional staff and we now must deal with that issue. The Minister is dealing with it. It is something at which we must look and tackle in order to deal with the issues raised by my colleagues. No doubt the Minister will be dealing with it in the next few months.

Comment on this

I second Senator Feargal Quinn's amendment to the Order of Business.

On the day on which we are all paying tribute to the late Nelson Mandela, the day of his memorial service, I welcome to the Visitors Gallery Ms Leanna Byrne, communications officer of the students' union in TCD, and Mr. Tom Lenihan, its president.

The students' union renamed House 6 Nelson Mandela House when Mandela was still in jail. There is, therefore, a strong connection between the students' union and Nelson Mandela and I am pleased its representatives have joined us today. The Lenihan family has made many contributions to public life.

I welcome Judge Smithwick's report on the shootings of Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan. At the end of his most comprehensive report, which runs to 432 pages, Judge Smithwick recommends the establishment of an integrated Border intelligence team between the two jurisdictions on the island modelled on the team in operation on the United States-Canada border. I hope our ambassadors to Canada and the United States will be asked to brief the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Justice and Equality on how the team operates. I ask the Leader to provide information to the House in advance of our discussion on the Smithwick report on how the integrated border intelligence team between the United States and Canada works. Relations between the United Kingdom and Ireland and the authorities, North and South, are at least as harmonious as relations between the United States and Canada. A Border intelligence team may be a good model to explore before the House debates the Smithwick report.

Comment on this