Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Does the Taoiseach agree that an admitted breach of the Act is not an administrative oversight? If the Act has been breached, surely what has been done is open to challenge by any person wishing to do so. The Taoiseach took up most of his reply by telling me what is in the Health Act. I know what is in the Health Act. The Minister did not know what was in the Act. The reason the documents were laid before the Houses on Friday was because of the questions we caused to be put to the Minister.

I do not know what other initiatives the Taoiseach is referring to when he says this is not the centrepiece of his new health strategy. I do not know whether he is referring to the 200,000 medical cards that were not delivered, the reform of the common contract which has not been delivered or the resolution of the nurses' dispute, which has not happened. Every which way this Government has looked on any initiative, it has come to grief and the sufferers are the public patients waiting for access to hospital care. They are in that position because of the two tier system and where the Taoiseach is heading now——

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