Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

——and in which every party leader participated. The Minister, Deputy Harney, made a very eloquent speech last night. She set out what she wanted to do and called on us all to rally in support. It would have been a credible speech if she had made it as she started her term as Minister for Health and Children. The Minister and her colleagues have been in government — responsible for the management of the health service — for 3,782 days. While I accept that the Minister, Deputy Harney, was not Minister for Health and Children for all that time, she was the Tánaiste when she had other responsibilities. The Government has been in power for so long that young doctors who are beginning to work in hospitals throughout the country had only started secondary school when it took office. The amount of time it has been in office should be long enough for any Government to sort out the problems in the health service.

See this speech in context