On the day we have Willie Walsh of IAG speaking to the transport committee may I ask whether, if the assurances the Taoiseach has sought in terms of Heathrow Airport and various other issues are given, it is the Labour Party's intention to support the sale of Aer Lingus? Could the House be given some clarification on that issue?

It is disturbing today to read in The Irish Times that the HSE director general wrote to the Department of Health seeking €1.4 billion in additional funding last September. We then had the Minister announcing what he believed to be a realistic budget in October, yet it was only €115 million more than the previous year despite the fact that the HSE had sought €1.4 billion. Despite the supposedly realistic budget announcement last October, the following month, the director general, Mr. Tony O'Brien, felt compelled to tell the Minister, "It has not been possible to provide funding to address the substantial majority of the demographic and critical service cost pressures, some of which carry risks from a clinical perspective." We need to clarify where these risks are. Was Mr. O'Brien referring to the 500 plus patients on hospital trolleys which has become commonplace in recent weeks and months?

Was it the fair deal scheme, under which there are very substantial waiting lists? What is the position?

How bad does the HSE anticipate things will get when it is some €1.3 million short of the funding it anticipated it would need? I do not want to be calling votes to have the Minister come here today, but I ask that an additional health budget debate be held as soon as possible in order that the Minister can outline for us how a budget announced in October was stated to be realistic when it seems to be €1.3 billion short of the figures put forward by the HSE to his Department in September. While the Leader may feel a Commencement debate may be more appropriate for this issue, such is its seriousness I would like to see a debate in the House in which all could participate. It arises from the Sligo County Council's debt of some €100 million and central government's treatment of the people of Sligo on the back of that debt. It is prescribing, centrally, the closing of basic First World county services such as libraries, motor taxation offices, outdoor staff and so on. It is prescribing the closure and cutting back of these services; it is prescribing more redundancies and it is treating Sligo County Council and the people of Sligo as if it were an independent republic out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, there are larger councils such as Fingal County Council with over €100 million on deposit.

The reality is that the funding mechanism for smaller local authorities such Sligo - there are many others in a similar situation throughout the country - is not robust enough. They do not have the benefit of Dublin Airport, for example, within their commercial rate base, which Fingal does. That is just one example. We have a situation in Sligo where central government support is essential. The attitude taken to this by the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, and his Department in treating the people of Sligo in such a discriminatory manner, is effectively to do to us in the north west what the Germans and the ECB did to the people of Ireland in prescribing the medicine they felt should best be taken. The people of the north west are no less entitled to services than the people of the east coast, the Leader's own area, or other parts of the country. When it comes to discrimination against 65,000 of the nation's citizens in this way, it demands attention from the Houses of the Oireachtas-----

The Senator is way over time.

-----and, in this instance, a specific debate on local government funding in the context of Sligo County Council.

I was also taken aback this morning to see the front pages of the newspapers and Willie Walsh coming out with a very gung ho attitude, saying he was following the Government into the trenches in terms of our shares in Aer Lingus. On the question of whether the Labour Party favours the sale of the State's shares in Aer Lingus, it is a Government decision, but a number of senior Labour Party Ministers have said they do not see any commercial imperative in selling the State's interest and are aware that the State's interests in the matter need to be protected.

I thank Members for a robust debate yesterday on the issue of housing. While I am reluctant to ask again for a debate on housing, a number of issues were raised, particularly in regard to home ownership, tenant-purchase, and other issues around low- or middle-income households having access to home ownership. The credit unions have recently said they would be willing to enter the market in terms of mortgage lending. They were very quickly slapped down from a regulatory perspective for putting their necks above the parapet on this issue. This merits a twofold debate, with the first dealing with the credit unions. There were a few high profile credit union failures but the vast majority of Irish credit unions are very sound and have been serving their communities very well for significant periods of time. They know their membership in a way that banks do not know their customers, and we need to look at whether the current regulatory framework is adequate for the needs of credit unions and their membership. I would like a debate on home ownership. Many Members would have something to add.

I welcome the announcement of a ceasefire in Ukraine. We have seen many ceasefires before. Let us hope this one goes somewhere. Around 5,300 people have been killed so far in this conflict on European soil. I would like to see a wider debate on European issues, covering the security issues Europe is facing together with issues like the Greek bailout. We have seen the announcement of the President Juncker investment plan. Ireland has a number of projects of significant value already lodged for that fund and we have the issue of quantitative easing. There are a number of European issues that would merit a debate in the House.

I found the comments of the economist John FitzGerald at the banking inquiry yesterday very refreshing. He put his hands up and said he had made the wrong call, had been totally wrong and had made a big mistake that would live with him for the rest of his life. He is an eminent economist. He was the first person to forecast the massive oversupply in the housing market in Ireland.

The Senator should not name people in the House who are not here to defend themselves.

An eminent economist from the ESRI-----

Same difference. He is not here to defend himself.

-----was the first person to highlight this issue and for all that, he may have not noticed that he got a great deal right. Perhaps that cannot be said, but it is worth noting.