Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Yes. The question all Deputies sought to ask today is whether the core commitment to provide additional bed capacity is still Government policy. To anyone listening to the Tánaiste last night and various public statements on behalf of the HSE, it would seem perfectly clear that it is no longer Government policy to provide those beds. While there was a commitment to provide community care or step-down beds, it has not been done commensurate to demand. It remains a commitment only.

In the broadest terms, is the Government still in charge of health service policy or has it been ceded to an agency that has diagnosed the problems as being purely managerial? The programme announced with such fanfare by the then Minister, Deputy Martin, and the Ballymascanlon House Hotel brouhaha in advance of it——

See this speech in context