Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

It is unlikely to succeed in anything it undertakes. It is top-heavy in bureaucracy and administration, with various contradictory opinions, and expertise. It is overloaded, overburdened and unworkable.

Some time ago I listened to a radio programme on MRSA. The presenter asked where were the hygiene inspectors. That is a good question, and the answer is that they have been sacked. The health boards that provided them were abolished. It was they who were supposed to go around public and private hospitals every week and ascertain whether procedures were being adhered to. It was all done for reasons of political expediency. In the run-up to a general election, the then Minister decided to sacrifice the health boards to "save money". He did not save too much because expenditure has reached previously unknown levels, with services still not delivered. The appalling aspect to this is that service levels are still falling.

Let us consider what is happening. There are substantial system failures everywhere and a total rejection on the part of the bureaucracy of any authority or accountability. There is no willingness to give the public the service they deserve in keeping with modern requirements and expenditure. A bureaucracy is developing that is orientated more towards employment than delivering the service to the people as intended.

For example, in my constituency in the past week a person went to the relevant official in the health service in an emergency. When that person said that representations had been made to me in my capacity as the local Deputy, the question was asked why one went to him given that he could do nothing for anyone and is only interested in people's votes. In such cases the matter is then raised with the superior officer, who has no authority because he withdraws into the mode of bureaucracy and says the person should direct future queries elsewhere.

That is system failure because of an unwillingness on the part of the individual to treat the job with respect and attend to it. Unless that and similar issues are urgently addressed in the Department of Health and Children, which has become the massive bureaucracy of the HSE, there will be more systems failure. We have heard Deputies across the House mention various parts of the country where references made by Deputies or others, including doctors, are now routinely ignored. The general attitude is to ask what the hell they know and why one should respond to them. Where that attitude prevails, there will be more failure and tragedy. The quicker the Government and those in control realise that, the better for them.

For example, in the past six months I had occasion to refer at least three cases of children at risk to the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Education and Science and Health and Children. The first line of resistance was their reluctance to answer parliamentary questions. They were said to be of no relevance, while the Minister apparently had no responsibility, but that is rubbish. An unwillingness to deal with the issue lay behind it.

After a long battle to get answers to my questions, the Department of Education and Science was a total failure. The National Educational Welfare Board was severely under-resourced and did not work for children at risk, so that they remained at risk. To be fair to the Garda junior liaison service, it did its job. It received a great deal of criticism, and I would be the first to join in that, but it did its job and addressed the issue as far as possible. The Department of Health and Children was a total wash-out, with no response whatsoever. It went into defensive mode straight away, stating that the matters were confidential and that it could not talk to me about such issues because confidentiality covered everything. That is a total and absolute disgrace.

We hear media comments suggesting that ordinary, vulgar Deputies should not ask such questions because they are people with red shoes, red noses and blue suits. They think that we should not deign to ask questions of this nature and hope for more intellectual inquiries. I reject that notion. Unfortunately, some of the media, like the rest of this country, are being managed by the Government. They are being drip-fed and cannot move away. That is the way everything is being managed and eventually people will start to manage the Opposition. In the delivery of health services required there should be clear recognition of the duty of the Government and the Minister to ensure clarity, accountability and transparency. Political responsibility should be accepted rather than sacking the Secretary General of the Department when matters get rough. From time to time we must admit we have made mistakes.

Regarding the children's hospital, about which we have heard so much expert opinion, I have never heard such rubbish as the suggestion that the location should be where public transport services converge. That is the last place it should be located. Who brings a child to hospital on the Luas, Dart or the bus? It should be located on the basis of ease of access, parking and ensuring that all people can receive treatment there. It should not be located for the convenience of those who believe they have a superior opinion to the red-shoed, blue-suited, red-nosed Deputies in the Dáil.

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