Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am addressing it urgently. I hope the committee and the Oireachtas will help me to deliver the bits that are not just the nice fluffy bits. We can all say we are in favour of more homecare services - Sláintecare - and dismantling the HSE, which is the right thing to do. The HSE and the excellent people who work in it know that its current structure is not configured correctly. It is a thorny issue to tell people that they have to change the way they work. Today a consultant is allowed to engage in private practice in a hospital in Limerick, while there are 80 patients on trolleys in the same hospital. There will be a moment when people will have to nail their colours to the mast and I cannot wait until we get to that moment. Are people in favour of Sláintecare and what it actually means, or they in favour of it as though it was a Rose of Tralee-type concept? I am in favour of the delivery of Sláintecare, which will mean big and significant changes. It will mean paying consultants more and tackling issues such as pay parity. It will mean greater bed capacity, but it will also mean no more business as usual. It will mean fewer managers in the health service and ultimately lead to a voluntary redundancy scheme as we streamline management. Where there are two finance functions today, one for community services and one for hospitals, there will have to be one. Front-line staff who are brilliant and do an excellent job will have to look at different ways of working and we will have to remunerate and support them accordingly. The Chairman is beyond reproach on this matter. I accept his bona fides, but I know the clear views of everybody in the House, including Deputy Kelly, on the de Buitléir report. I challenge every political party represented in the Dáil to issue a statement this week confirming whether it is in favour of the de Buitléir report.