Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I start by acknowledging the apology that the Minister proffered in the House this morning to all the women concerned in this. It was typical of the Minister and also typical of her to respond so quickly and to be accountable to the House as regards this particular matter. There is no excusing the pain and fear which has been visited on the women concerned, who were given the all clear when in fact they had breast cancer. That pain and fear, as many Deputies have said, should not have happened. Every Member of the House would wish to join the Minister, I am sure, in the apology to each of those patients, while knowing that it would not make the women concerned feel any less miserable or vulnerable.

It should not have happened. We have to find out precisely what happened. Again, the Minister is taking a course of action in that regard by setting up the ministerial inquiry. We must have an eminent and uninvolved person to lead the inquiry, who can probe the issue without fear or favour and provide clarity as regards why it happened. The reason I have come to the House tonight to intervene in this debate is to express my support for the Minister for Health and Children in her constant determination to try to drive through a vast conglomeration of fixed positions and vested interests in order to give people the world class health service to which they are entitled. The Minister is correct that what happened in the Health Service Executive could continue to happen unless we get our act together. We have the relevant information, reports, buildings, personnel and Minister to ensure we do get it together, but the problem is that we very often allow reports to be used for political point scoring. In this regard, I am not just referring to party-political point scoring.

A general problem in the health service, rather than in the field of cancer care in particular, is that we allow the very existence of buildings to shape our thinking and delay our actions when doing the right thing. A great health service is not about reports or buildings but about services and people, as Members on all sides have stated. Unless we decide to have the best possible service, we will never move beyond our current position.

We have a fixation on having a hospital building in every county. Such buildings are undoubtedly staffed by committed experts who are serving their patients in so many ways. Members of the public who enter these buildings as inpatients or outpatients are overwhelmingly satisfied with what happens therein, as is proven by objective research, but the issue we now face is not one of preserving each of these buildings as they currently operate. We cannot allow the presence of a building to dictate how we pursue the excellence of service to sick people, to which every participant in this debate subscribes. However, this has happened and it has dogged and delayed progress in this vital area of Irish life. The problem in Portlaoise is just one result of playing politics with the lives of people.

We all know all politics is local and that is why politicians of every hue — I am not exempt — stick our flags down for our local county or town. We do so from the best of motives and quite rightly believe it is best for the local economy and employment but quite wrongly believe it is best for the health of our local constituents. In many cases, it is not. All health service is not local and its direction should not be decided by someone from another time who put bricks and mortar in one location. I hope that, on foot of this debate, the concept of excellence of service will permeate all our thinking. Localism should not feature in debates on health and we should not play politics with health issues. I hope this debate will lead to a better focus on real issues in the health service.

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