Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

We should not have to legislate for standards. We should have them.

Six years ago the Government published a national health strategy which stated that by the end of 2003 no adult would have to wait for longer than six months for a procedure and no child would have to wait for longer than three months. A report by Fergal Bowers for RTE today says that at present 12,000 adults are waiting for longer than six months and 2,200 children are waiting for longer than three months for procedures.

At the beginning of September, the Health Service Executive, which was established to sort out the problems in the health service, introduced a total embargo on recruitment of all staff, including nurses, doctors and paramedics. Yesterday, the Health Service Executive extended that embargo for a further month. The Minister for Health and Children says this will not impact on patient care. Nevertheless, beds have been closed in Tullamore, Clonmel, Galway and Limerick and 40 staff have been let go in Sligo. One would expect this kind of month-to-month operation by the HSE in a country on the brink of bankruptcy, not in one as well off as this one, supposedly, is.

As the Health Service Executive attempts to claw back the €220 million it says it has overspent so far this year, it is clearly embarking, presumably with the approval of the Government, on a series of health cuts. Does the Taoiseach agree with the observation of his predecessor and mentor, the late Mr. Charles Haughey, that health cuts hurt the old, the sick and the handicapped?

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