It would be useful if we were to recognise the presence in the Visitors Gallery of heavily decorated UN volunteers from County Carlow. They have done the country proud.

I refer to the passing of President Fidel Castro. I am old enough to remember the regime of Fulgencio Batista which he ousted. It was a filthy, disgusting, criminal conspiracy against the Cuban people. Thank God, Fidel Castro stood up to it. Subsequently, I visited Cuba and was immensely impressed by the urban farms, the medical services which they exported to crisis points internationally as a humanitarian gesture and the education system, but, of course, there was an embargo imposed by the Americans. They embargoed everything and tried to crush Cuba which they invaded. They helped to bring down civilian aircraft with bombs and made 40 attempts at assassination. Naturally, there was a reaction there. I do not commend the behaviour of the Castro regime for the way it closed down journalists, but it was understandable in a state of war. It was also extremely ignorant and stupid in the way it harassed gay people in Cuba, about which I protested. However, if one looks at the American experience, democracy was attacked everywhere it turned up in South America.

They destroyed Nicaragua and established the School of the Americas. They should be ashamed, not the Cubans, a valiant people struggling for the rights of humanity.

I wish to raise a question I raised here previously, namely, the mistreatment of gay couples, particularly in the Civil Service, who have recently got married. Marriage has only been allowed since last year yet a technicality is used to deprive the spouses of their pensions if they did not get married before 1980. They could not do it. It was impossible. They were not allowed to marry so it is a complete nonsense. I utterly condemn the niggardly, miserable and wretched attitude of Trinity College, my old employer, in harassing a very distinguished French lecturer, David Parris, who attempted to establish his rights. The same applies in respect of the European Court of Human Rights. I accept that in the major aspect of this, the court did not have jurisdiction because leeway is allowed for different countries but I condemn Trinity College and its insurance company for their shamelessly stingy approach in this area. A tiny number of people are involved.

Senator Norris is testing my patience.

It would not bankrupt the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity to act with a bit of charity.

I agree with Senator Kelleher in respect of the maternity service in Cork. I raised this issue two weeks ago at a meeting of the Committee on Health and looked for some work to be done to resolve the delay in the availability of gynaecological services. My understanding is that there are more than 4,000 women on the waiting list. I also understand that the people in the maternity service are concerned about the system of governance there. More than 9,000 babies are delivered per annum in Cork University Maternity Hospital. This is the same as any one of the three big Dublin maternity hospitals, which have their own system of governance. We need to look at how it is managed and how those in the medical team do not believe they are getting enough support from management. It is a serious issue. I raised it two weeks ago at a meeting of the Committee on Health. This issue is not going away. I agree with my colleague that the Minister should come to the House and we should have a debate on the matter because this is the biggest unit outside Dublin. It is important that any of the issues that are being raised are fully aired in this House and an immediate solution to the problems found.

There were two good media reports on the HPV vaccine recently. The "Prime Time" investigation was a very comprehensive review. The evidence is there from Australia where they have been using the vaccine since 2007 and where there has been a 70% drop in cervical cancer rates among those who have received the vaccine. It is wrong that incorrect information is going out and that people are misleading the public on this matter. There has been a drop in the take up of the vaccine, which is now less than 50%. I have no difficulty with an open debate but both the "Prime Time" programme and the report in The Sunday Business Post gave a very detailed explanation of the inaccurate information that is out there and why people are concerned.