Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This morning I attended a meeting of the Arthritis Foundation of Ireland on keeping Ireland fit for work. It was very interesting. The amount of absenteeism in this country is, and has always been, affected by things we can do something about - this meeting showed some of those things. What really concerned me was an item I heard about the other day on the cost of procedures in Irish hospitals compared to the costs for similar procedures in other hospitals in the OECD area. We are charged double the cost. I will give one example. A knee replacement in a hospital in Ireland costs €11,400 while in the UK it costs €5,400. A hip replacement here costs €12,400; in the UK it costs €5,400. I do not understand why it is so expensive here, or why we became so expensive. The VHI is very concerned about this and has pointed out that in many cases procedures in public hospitals in Ireland are more expensive than in private hospitals, having increased by 41% since 2009. This deserves a debate. The costs in hospitals in Ireland, and thereby the cost for the VHI which must pay them, seems outrageous. It is a cost to the nation as a whole and to employers and as a consequence is also a cost in the creation of new jobs. It is worthwhile having a debate on this in the near future.

I say goodbye to a group of friends we have had for six months. On 23 October the Brent geese came to Ireland. Yesterday they left although there were a few remaining this morning. It is interesting that very many thousands of Brent geese fly from the north of Canada into Strangford Lough and thence to the rest of Ireland. They come on the same day every year and leave on the same day, 23 April. I mention this because every now and then we could do with a debate on the environment. Climate change has meant we no longer have some of the migratory birds coming into Ireland. The first swallows were seen here only last week. We value the environment only to the extent that we protect it.