Missing persons Bill and healthcare committee
Senator Burke seeks priority for the Missing Persons Bill and clarification of Senators’ participation in the Committee on the Future of Healthcare.
I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that No. 15 be taken before No. 1. I am looking for consent to publish a Bill on missing persons.
Following on from what Senator John Dolan said about the Committee on the Future of Healthcare, the Leader and I met the Chairman of the committee and the matter needs to be progressed. I understand it has had four or five meetings. There are no Senators on it. Full clarification should be given as to whether it is a joint Oireachtas committee or a select committee and whether Senators are going to be excluded. It needs to be clarified before we break for the summer. I am not too sure what procedure we can adopt in this matter, but we should come to a conclusion, one way or the other, and it is wrong if Senators are being excluded from this very important issue. We are talking about a ten-year vision for health care for the country and here 60 Members of the Oireachtas are not going to be participating. Will the Leader come back to us, perhaps tomorrow morning, to see what further progress can be made to bring the matter to a head? It should not be left without clear answers when we break at the end of this week.