That is exactly as I thought. This morning I tabled a very important matter on the removal and reconfiguration of 33 acute surgical beds from Beaumont Hospital. The Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, is a decent guy and I have a lot of regard for him. He is a very good attender at this House. He is the Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for the Office of Public Works who comes in and reads a statement on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, on the second busiest hospital in the country, a hospital in crisis, where 33 acute surgical beds for cancer patients have been removed. The Minister could not even be bothered to come to the House to take the debate. It is not just he who could not be bothered; the Minister of State at the Department of Health could not be bothered either. Instead, they have sent in the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW who read a stock reply from the Minister. I do not know if it is something in the Fine Gael Party this week that its members are not able to write their own scripts. What the Minister of State read this morning was an exact copy of the statement from the management of Beaumont Hospital yesterday. The Minister of State reads a statement on behalf of the Minister for Health which is an exact copy of the statement issued by Beaumont Hospital management.

I received the response to my matter - a response I am not happy with - but to add insult to injury, the Minister tweeted: "Was in Seanad for two hours yesterday and no one mentioned this."

He is saying he did not know about the Commencement debate. He is using the excuse, which effectively is a lie, that he did not know about this.

I can confirm to the Senator that as soon as we receive the matters to be raised, they go to the Department.

I am certain of that from responses received from staff in the Seanad office, but why then is the Minister saying he did not know about this debate this morning and he expected to be told about it when he was in the House here yesterday? He has said he sat here for two hours and no one mentioned it to him. How long has he been here? The Minister has been a passenger in his Department or independent commentator who feels everyone else's pain and says, "God, is that not terrible?" Deputy Leo Varadkar is the Minister.

Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?

I am telling the Cathaoirleach that I am not accepting this from the Minister. I want him to come to the House today to debate the issue of 33 acute surgical-----

Is the Senator proposing an amendment to the Order of Business?

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that the Minister for Health come to the House today to address the issue of 33 acute surgical beds in Beaumont Hospital which are being withdrawn without consultation with the staff. I also want the Minister to confirm when his Department was told about the Commencement debate because what he made public today is not true. He is hiding behind a lie on a serious issue. He is saying he was not aware of this debate and that is why he was not here today. It is nonsense. I am formally tabling an amendment to the Order of Business that the Minister come to the House today to clear up this matter immediately and withdraws the statement that he issued.