Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Minister for Health and Children will provide these private beds on the same campuses as public hospitals at half the cost of the conventional provision of new beds and in a far shorter timeframe. This means we will have a better mix of health care. It is a progressive approach and will accommodate more public patients.

I also take this opportunity to point out the significant increases and improvements we have made in recent months across a range of health care services. These include improvements in accident and emergency services and various palliative care areas, the provision of new beds in the new facilities being constructed, the employment of new staff to assist in alleviating the accident and emergency situation, improvements in home care packages and so on. The National Treatment Purchase Fund is of significant assistance and is an example of using the private sector to assist people on public waiting lists. Almost 50,000 patients have been treated in this way.

All these improvements are helping us move to where we want to go. Some difficulties remain but we are dealing with them and they can all ultimately be overcome. Accident and emergency services have been improved and other initiatives were introduced. I do not understand, therefore, why Deputy Ó Caoláin or anybody else would be opposed to the provision of private beds on the same campuses as public hospitals. All this will do is enhance the overall services by providing better facilities for patients in public hospitals and enhancing the mix of health care provision. Irish people have shown they wish to avail of private health insurance, which is their entitlement, and they are entitled to the necessary facilities.

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