Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. The Estimates are brilliant and outline the allocation of €54.3 billion. A total of €14.6 billion will be spent on health. This compares very favourably to the €3 billion allocated in this area ten years ago. However, where are the benefits and where has the money gone? How have the people of County Monaghan benefited? Monaghan General Hospital has half the number of beds it had ten years ago. It also has approximately half the services it possessed at that time. The major difficulty is that alternatives have not been forthcoming.

We are continually informed that nothing will be taken away unless an alternative is available but that has not proved to be the case. According to a senior executive in the HSE, it takes two years to get onto a waiting list for a first appointment relating to orthopaedic services. People are then obliged to endure a further wait following that appointment. We have been informed that the position relating to the provision of cancer services has improved. A lady to whom I spoke yesterday was informed that the bed set aside for her in the Mater Hospital would not be available until at least the middle of next month.

The actual increase in the allocation relating to agriculture is 10%, although the Book of Estimates appears to make out that it is 14.4%. There have been cutbacks in research and training and in forestry, two of the areas in respect of which assistance is most required if we are to maintain our place in international markets and do something similar to what was achieved 25 years ago when there was no funding available. The allocation in respect of farm buildings is quite small, particularly when one considers that very little money has been provided in the past nine years. I doubt that the funding provided will be sufficient. I welcome the increase in respect of rural development but I wonder what will happen to the Leader group. Perhaps the Minister will, as was the case with Dingle, do a U-turn.

The final issue to which I wish to refer is the fact that there does not appear to be any funding, in the Taoiseach's office or anywhere else, for Northern Ireland. A clear announcement was made by the UK Government — perhaps this was not adequate — in respect of the St. Andrews Agreement. However, funding does not appear to have been provided in respect of Ireland's commitments in that regard. Friday is the deadline for what we hope will be a new beginning. My party believes it is essential that the Taoiseach and the Government make their position clear to people in the Six Counties and the other Border counties who suffered so much during the past 30 years.

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