Dáil returns as May election looms

Dáil business resumed this afternoon in what is expected to be the final full session in the House before this year's general…

Dáil business resumed this afternoon in what is expected to be the final full session in the House before this year's general election.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is expected to call an election for some time in May this year after 10 years in power and Opposition parties began today's session by pressing Mr Ahern hard to explain the current problems in the health service.

The Taoiseach, while admitting there were problems, said there would always be pressure on hospitals regardless of increased capacity.

Mr Ahern said "There will always be issues that come up like St James's today, it is not new and it won't go away.

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"Even though we have increased capacity for intensive care unit beds from 9 to 14 they will still at times hit difficulties".

Over the last week St James's Hospital cancelled around 20 planned surgeries due to a shortage of recovery beds. Mr Ahern admitted that 10,000 operations had been postponed duiring the first six months of last year for a variety of reasons.

In a heated debate during leaders questions Mr Ahern defended his Government's record saying there had been huge improvements to the service during his ten years in power.

However Enda Kenny of Fine Gael said the Government "had wasted people's money" on health and made them "wait even longer" for operations.

Pat Rabbitte of the Labour Party also said the Government's programme on health had failed "miserably utterly and abjectly".

Earlier, the Government annouced the legislative programme for the Spring session during which they hope to publish 25 Bills before the Easter break.

Among those is the Ethics Bill, which will require politicians to seek the opinion of the Standards in Public Office Commission before accepting a significant gift or loan from a friend.

The new legislation is being brought forward in response to the payments controversy surrounding the Taoiseach last October.

Government chief whip Tom Kitt said last night that publishing 25 Bills was "an ambitious undertaking and it reflects the Government's determination to fulfil its commitments outlined in the agreed Programme for Government and also to bring about other necessary legislation reforms".

But the Labour party said the Government "knows quite well" that it has no prospect of publishing the majority of the 25 Bills.

The party's Chief Whip, Emmet Stagg said: "Indeed of the 25 Bills on this list, ten also appeared on the list published on September 26th last and which were to be published prior to Christmas. He said the Government was "trying to create the impression of a surge of legislation in the run up to the election".

Green Party chief whip Dan Boyle also said very few of the 25 new Bills promised could be finalised before the election.