Yesterday, as Senators know, I brought up the issue of public service pay and stated how out of touch the Government is with how ordinary people are feeling. I wish to raise today another issue of which the Government seems blissfully unaware, namely, the time one must wait for State benefits. The average waiting time for the carer's allowance is 40 weeks, as we know from an answer to a parliamentary question. The overall waiting times for some other benefits are 27 weeks for a State pension and 21 weeks, on average, for an invalidity pension. I encountered an example of someone in Limerick who was waiting seven months to be awarded the carer's allowance. This person had to give up work to care for a sick relative who is terminally ill. The individual was at a huge financial loss as a result of the delay. Does the Leader have any idea of the hurt and hardship this is causing?

Who is in charge of this? It is none other than the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Leo Varadkar, hailed by many as the future leader of Fine Gael. He cannot run a tap, never mind a Government Department. He left the Department of Health having made a hames of it, and now he is causing chaos in the Department of Social Protection, yet Fine Gael wants him as its future leader. There are only two possibilities here: one being that Fine Gael does not know what is going on with regard to waiting times and the other being that it does not care.

In fairness, this is not relevant to the Order of Business.

It certainly is. Perhaps Fine Gael has calculated on the fact that people on welfare do not vote for its members.

The Order of Business is about what has been announced by the Leader.

I am asking the Leader to bring the Minister to the House.

That is legitimate.

Absolutely.

The rest is extraneous.

Maybe Sinn Féin should let us know how to go about changing a leader.

That is not relevant.

Order, please.

When we talk about voodoo economics, let us talk about a Government that advocates cutting the universal social charge-----

The Senator is a bit giddy this morning. Calm down.

-----while people are dying in our hospitals. Let us talk about the economics that saw 66 people waiting on trolleys in Limerick just last week. Let us talk about Dr. Emmet Kerin, who declared that elderly patients with life-threatening illnesses are refusing to go to University Hospital Limerick because of the chaotic conditions. After six years in government, the best the Government can do is go from one crisis to another in health. It is out of touch and shortly it will probably be out of time.