I concur with the Order of Business as outlined.

Like other colleagues, a few minutes ago I participated in a photograph that was taken outside the gates of Leinster House to promote breast cancer awareness month. The campaign is very aptly entitled Care for Your Pair, which is a message for both men and women because men can also develop breast cancer.

Hear, hear.

There is a much lower incidence of breast cancer in men but it is important that we all become breast aware. The photograph was followed by an informative briefing in the audiovisual room, which was given by cancer nurses from the Irish Cancer Society who gave a practical demonstration on what to look out for in terms of changes in breast tissue, the obvious signs and when to seek help. Obviously, we still have a way to go with tackling cancer. We have the fantastic BreastCheck screening programme that commences examining people at the age of 50. There is an idea to lower the age at which the screening programme commences because 25% of women develop breast cancer when they are under the age of 50. So there a gap in coverage in terms of the national screening programme.

At the briefing, another matter was brought to our attention and it is something on which we must work. If a woman receives a cancer diagnosis following the birth of her baby, she cannot defer her maternity leave. One of the key requests of the Irish Cancer Society is that we introduce the option to defer maternity leave while receiving treatment and dealing with a cancer diagnosis and all that goes with it. I fully support that request. My colleagues and I will do everything that we can to deliver that.

Hear, hear.

I welcome that Ireland has finalised its new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, strategic plan and that it has now been approved by Cabinet. I commend and congratulate the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and his other Cabinet colleagues on getting the plan over the line. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has described the plan as being farmer-friendly, fair and well-funded. The plan will give Irish farmers nearly €9.8 billion over five years and represents an increase in funding for the sector, which is welcome.

I will begin by welcoming the support shown by the Oireachtas for the Irish Cancer Society and breast cancer awareness month. I support its Care for Your Pair campaign, which applies, as the Deputy Leader said, to men and women. It is important that we support that campaign. I commend all of those involved with BreastCheck and the Irish Cancer Society on the major work they do. I commend those in BreastCheck on the extraordinary work that has been carried out on behalf of the women of Ireland. I support Senator Chambers regarding the campaign relating to maternity leave.

I ask the Leader to bring the Minister for Health before the House to discuss the crisis in our emergency departments. In Cork University Hospital in September, there were 1,260 patients on trolleys. This is the worst figure in the 16 years of trolley watch by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. Last Wednesday, 88 people were on trolleys. Why is this happening? Is it just a result of bed capacity? Is it down to mismanagement by hospital authorities regarding emergency departments? Is it because of the volume of people coming into emergency departments? Is it to do with work practices within our hospitals? Is it to do with free GP care in the community, or with the fact that the GPs are no longer as accessible as they were, and now more people are coming in?

There is something fundamentally wrong when 1,260 people in the month of September were on trolleys in Cork University Hospital. I support my colleague, Deputy Colm Burke, who expressed the need for the matter of an elective hospital for Cork to be expedited. A new elective hospital has been promised. The work around its decision-making process has almost concluded, but, we still have no site. I believe it should be on the western side of the city, by Curraheen, adjacent to Marymount University Hospital and Hospice in Cork. The Deputy is of a different viewpoint. However, what we do share is a joint belief that this new elective hospital must be fast-tracked in order to alleviate the issues relating to capacity in Cork. I hope that the Minister for Health will come to the House to discuss the two important issues of emergency departments and bed capacity. I look forward to that debate.