I second the motion from Senator Cosgrove to amend the Order of Business. I wish to send my condolences to the husband and family of Ciara Mageean. She was a wonderful person and athlete.

I want to raise the issue of Cork University Hospital, CUH. We have seen many developments there over recent weeks. To be honest, a lot of what I am hearing absolutely stinks. Yesterday, there was a report in The Irish Times that the CEO of CUH, Jennifer Kearney, who raised the alarm over the summer about understaffing at the hospital, was essentially threatened with a performance review by senior figures in the HSE. It was also said in the same publication that political pressure was being applied. I have questions in this regard for both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. Was there political pressure put on Andy Phillips in the HSE? Why is a competent and brave woman, who is CEO of a hospital, being threatened with a performance review because she raised understaffing issues at CUH? She said that there is a need for over 1,000 posts to be filled, 172 of which are for this winter. We need an independent review of staffing at the hospital. I know Fine Gael has its Ard-Fheis in Cork this weekend. I encourage the Minister for Health to meet CUH staff while she is in Cork. This is a huge issue for Cork, for Munster and nationally.

I also want to put on the record what a farce the new surgical hub, which is badly needed at CUH, has been. Despite being two years late, it still opened prematurely. It was opened to great fanfare and celebration on 28 September with the Taoiseach and Minister for Health in attendance, but it closed a number of days later because of air contamination fears. It failed environmental testing. I have questions in this regard. What testing was carried out on that? Due to understaffing levels, the surgical hub has seen fewer than ten patients since it opened, and this is a hospital that has massive waiting lists. Again, what is going on here? The Government is happy to go down for the photoshoot, but not to engage meaningfully with the hospital. It needs to do so urgently.