Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

That is a fine example because co-location is widely available in all of our public hospitals. Nearly half of the patients in the hospital in my constituency last year were private. They were housed in a public hospital funded and staffed by taxpayers and I want to change the fact that some patients are treated on a preferential basis. This is at the heart of the review of the consultants' contract because we wish to ensure the public hospital system is accessible on the basis of medical need and no other basis.

I have been asked to resign but quitting is a shortcut to failure and I do not accept failure. One should not run away simply because the going is tough; one must stay the course. I invite Deputy Kenny, who has joined us, to take the kind of approach to cancer care that we did to the issue of Northern Ireland. I am not requesting a carte blanche on all areas of the health service but ask only that we apply this approach to cancer care.

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