Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom labhairt inniu maidir leis an bPáipéar Bán atá foilsithe maidir le cúrsaí sláinte agus an tseirbhís sláinte uilíoch atá dhá chur chun cinn ag an Rialtas.

I would like to raise the issue of the White Paper on universal health care which has just been released. Sinn Féin has serious concerns about this issue. We believe the proposal is a flawed model based on competing private for profit health insurance companies and that it will lead to privatisation of the whole sector. The White Paper is late and has been three years in the coming. We have heard much of what would be in it, but it is only half baked in that it is scant on detail and specifics, with no costings worth mentioning. We also need to look at what the costs will be for those currently without medical cards or private health care under the new regime.

The consultation process that has been put in place is too short. It seems to coincide with the EU and local elections, which is not appropriate for such a substantial change as is proposed here. I find it quite strange that the leader of the Labour group in the House welcomes the White Paper, as it seems to be a long way away from that group's pre-election promise of a single State insurance provider. We have had useful hearings previously in the Seanad on issues such as those affecting older people.

I suggest therefore that with a change as substantial as the universal health care model being introduced, it might be a worthwhile use of the Seanad to have similar hearings. We could bring in people from jurisdictions where this model has worked and experts on the area of universal health care and tease out the issues further. I know we have expertise in the House on some of the areas concerning the type of model proposed, so it would be good use of Seanad time if we could have such discussion. No doubt, health issues will be raised frequently over the coming months, but perhaps we should deal with the issue in a focused way and bring in witnesses so we can delve into the issues in depth. This would be very useful.