Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I congratulate you, Deputy Shortall. It is a challenging undertaking. There is no point in us sitting here and thinking that we will be able to facilitate everybody among the public who has views and opinions on health care and the health systems in this country. It is important that when we extend invitations we should do so to people to give their expert views rather than let the committee be used as a lobbying forum for vested interests, of which there are many and many of which have good intentions. If we are to be true to the spirit of the motion, we are talking about developing a strategy for health care over the next ten years. That will require a great deal of work, much detailed research, and resources and supports for the committee. During my time as my party's spokesperson on health, I have learned that there is a huge body of work available in reports that have been produced both nationally and internationally. A great deal of research has been conducted by independent groups and experts, so we should be able to draw on what has been done already in those reports. The committee would have to be resourced for that purpose.

On the broader issue, the motion recognises the severe pressures on the health system and refers to the need for consensus at political level. That will always be a challenge and there is no point in saying otherwise. There are already varying views in this committee on how we fund health care in general, who pays for it, who has accessibility, who has priority in terms of clinical need and working from that. That will require shifts in people's minds, on all sides and none. We should approach it with an open view, listen to the evidence that will be put before the committee and be honest with ourselves about what type of health service we want and what type of health service the State can support and sustain. The difficulty we have had in the debates on health care in this country for many years, in the case of all political parties and all previous Governments, is over-promising, the simplification of the problems and under-delivery.

We have a health system that is under-resourced, overstretched and lacks capacity. It will require direction in terms of how we fund health care in the years ahead and it will require resourcing. It would be disingenuous of this committee to leave this room six months hence, or whenever the report is published, promising a utopian health system but not being honest about how we would fund it and the requirements and resources that would be necessary. Broadening universality will require extra resources and funding that only comes from a number of sources but primarily from the taxpayer. We cannot look at health care in isolation, without recognising the other consequences it might have on broader society.

However, this is an opportunity for all of us to move our mindset, perhaps, in how we view the provision of health care in this country. I hope the committee uses its time wisely in developing the strategy.

That is as opposed to overlapping with Deputy Harty's committee or ending up as a platform for lobbying. What we need is blue-sky thinking and beyond.

We mention a ten-year strategy in the motion, but we should be able to point out that there may be milestones or stepping stones that we should try to achieve as we get to a long-term goal. We can have a ten-year strategy, but how we get there should be marked in some reasonable timeframe. For example, we have the primary care strategy, but the problem is that it has not been enacted in full for the past ten or 11 years. There are many reports and strategies, but if there is a commitment on all sides to ensure they are a priority in developing an overarching strategy, they could make a meaningful impact on people using our health services in the medium term.

I wish the Chairman and committee members well. It will be an onerous task and one we should not take lightly. The public will be looking on and we do not want them just to see another committee promising the sun, moon and, invariably, the stars without highlighting the cost implications, how it is to be funded, and accessibility. We must be realistic in our efforts. Nevertheless, we should have a positive and aspirational view of what we would like our health care system to be in the years ahead. I assume the resourcing of the committee will have to be discussed as well.