Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

In May 2002, 71,151 people in counties Cavan, Monaghan and Louth voted for the Government on the basis of guarantees given by the Taoiseach and all his candidates that a world-class health service would be delivered in which waiting lists would be ended inside two years. This was one of the principal reasons people voted for the Government. Is it not patently obvious that the Minister for Health and Children has failed in his political responsibility to deliver on this commitment and promise?

Does the Taoiseach agree that all incidents of this nature, tragic though this one is, lead to a public perception that people in the district in question are gambling with their lives when they seek effective health care? Regardless of whether the issue is management, mismanagement or resources, political responsibility stops at the desk of the Minister for Health and Children. He has not lived up to this responsibility and that is a matter over which the Taoiseach is in charge. I want a guarantee from the Taoiseach, in so far as it is possible for him to give one, that he will see to it that the public and patients are not pawns in the rows which take place and that the Minister for Health and Children deals with this, the latest in a sad series of tragic incidents which have lowered public confidence and lessened the impact politics is supposed to have on the lives of people. This is what troubles me greatly today.

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