John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am only concerned with looking after the area of Laois and Offaly. I do not go near Wexford as there is no point. Where I come from the involvement of the private sector has produced excellent dividends and has reduced waiting lists. I can see the same happening with this matter.

Public hospitals and consultants are paid more for private patients in public-funded hospitals through the taxpayer and I believe this is an opportunity to provide extra beds in the system. I wonder how the change of heart came about because previously we were very used to the involvement of the private sector in public health. Take the designation of private and semi-private beds in public hospitals, which is something we have been aware of for years. We had no problem with income tax relief on private health insurance premiums. The same goes for income tax relief on medical and dental expenses and the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

I do not see the proposed initiative as one party in government advancing its ideology. I see it as a building block that will help solve the accident and emergency crisis, bed capacity issues and so on. This is something that should not divide the House; we should welcome it. Local authorities often have difficulty rezoning land banks around hospitals, though the argument is frequently made that rezoning for residential purposes will create funding for hospitals which can cause annoyance in local communities. This initiative could resolve such issues. Land that heretofore belonged to a hospital campus can now be properly used by the Department of Health and Children. This will solve health issues and make better use of health funding. I fully support the Minister for Health and Children's proposal and believe it is one of many Government initiatives to address the health issue. I wish this Administration had more time left to bring all these elements together and resolve the difficulties facing the health service.

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