John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I propose to share time with Deputies Gregory and McHugh.

In the 200 seconds I have to speak on this issue I wish to hold the Minister to account. The Minister has indulged in some creative accounting. Yesterday the Minister for Finance told us we would have, in the Government's term, a carry over of €56 million. This is public money and the public wants to know what is going on in the Department of Health and Children. Can the Minister state what is going on? I believe she cannot because it is a Department that is out of control.

Other speakers referred to a litany of incompetence, and we have seen a scandalous waste of money, including PPARS, the nursing homes, the Dunne inquiry, MRSA and the accident and emergency units crisis. All this has happened on the Tánaiste's watch, a shocking litany of unparalleled and abject failure. The Tánaiste promised greater efficiency and value for money. Where is the value for money? Where is the efficiency and accountability? Where is the world class health system the Tánaiste promised this House? It was suggested by some that we ought to give this Government a pocket calculator. That might stretch its capabilities. I suggest we give the Government an abacus that will allow simple subtraction and addition. The Tánaiste is getting her figures so badly wrong that at this stage we are discussing gross incompetence and bungling on an unprecedented scale.

Who will take responsibility for this? Is it the Tánaiste or the HSE? Will anybody resign? It seems that under the administration of Fianna Fáil and the PDs nobody takes responsibility. That is the difficulty. The figures shows a capital underspend of €57.5 million. The Tánaiste misspent public money in the past and she suggests that the underspend will not make any difference to services. Try telling that to the hundreds of people on trolleys this evening. It certainly would make a difference.

It is time the Tánaiste and the Government got their act together regarding health. The people will hold them to account. The Tánaiste may feel the people will forget about it. She stated in the past that people have short memories. They are wising up to this Government and the Tánaiste will be found out.

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