Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

If the answer was "Yes", the Minister would not only have referred the matter to the HSE, she would have followed this issue to its proper conclusion and taken total responsibility. That conclusion should have been the restoration of confidencein a system upon which thousands of women rely.

What is the culture that now pervades the politics of health? It is one where responsibility is passed from the Executive to the bureaucracy and where political accountability is non-existent. The Minister was wrong to adopt a hands-off approach. That is plainly and simply wrong. A Minister for Health and Children cannot adopt a hands-off approach. Otherwise, Angola will surely follow.

If this motion achieves nothing else, it will have put down a clear marker to the Government that the issue of political accountability must be placed at centre stage in terms of health care facilities and delivery. That the Minister for Health and Children has been forced to give an account of her actions is a victory for political accountability and for those women who tonight live in fear for their futures and those of their families. No longer will the people of this country endure a system that leaves no person or organisation accountable for the lack of delivery of cancer care and other services.

Our role as public representatives of the people must be respected. If we seek answers, we must get answers, not carefully worded attempts to dodge the issue. The Minister should not take us for fools. Nor should she take the women we represent for fools. If we deem it necessary to seek answers on behalf of the countless victims of the current health care regime, the Minister must respect that and must respond in kind. We can no longer accept a lack of political accountability. The question tonight is whether the Minister acted with due diligence. She did not.

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