M J Nolan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. We all recognise there are difficulties and shortcomings. Indeed, the Minister acknowledged the shortcomings in the area of the treatment of cystic fibrosis patients. Having spoken to them, I know there is no Member of the Oireachtas who has not been lobbied in recent weeks, particularly since this debate took place on radio. There is an urgent need for single rooms in our hospitals for cystic fibrosis patients. I am glad the Minister has given a commitment that urgent short-term measures are being put in place in St. Vincent's hospital in Dublin. The HSE, for all its faults, has given a commitment that it is fast-tracking the development of a ward adjacent to the main cystic fibrosis unit in St. Vincent's, which I welcome. However, it will take time. Why is it only now that the HSE has become alarmed at the shortcomings in the treatment of cystic fibrosis patients?

International comparisons show that Irish cystic fibrosis patients are at a greater disadvantage than their counterparts in Northern Ireland and the UK. It is important that this debate has become public because something is being done, albeit belatedly.

This debate also concerns the health service in general. It would be wrong only to be critical. While there are areas of serious deficiency, we have made much progress over the years. Reference was made in this debate to the fourfold increase in funding in the budgets between 1997 and 2007 and the capital programme has increased by three and a half times in that period, from €167 million to over €580 million. Our spending is almost 9% of GNP, which compares favourably with other countries in the OECD area.

The health services are making progress and people are living longer. As a result, there will be greater demands on the health service, and the HSE and the Department of Health and Children will have to come to terms with that positive development. Life expectancy for women is now 80 years and for men it is 75 years, an increase of five years for both men and women since the 1980s. The rise has been very rapid since 1999 in particular and life expectancy in Ireland now exceeds the European average, which is positive.

Our lifestyles have changed. Various factors are involved and Ministers are to be commended for this, particularly the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Micheál Martin, whose ban on smoking in the workplace was unique in that he found it very difficult to get that legislation through the Houses, in particular past some of his parliamentary colleagues. We now have an excellent infant care service and infant mortality decreased by 35% between 1999 and 2005. The rate of heart disease as a cause of death has decreased by 42%, which is also a result of improved lifestyles. I welcome the initiatives in various Departments to improve this further. Cancer survival is improving. Five-year survival rates for breast cancer are rising at one of the highest rates in Europe, which is positive. Some 40,000 cancer patients were discharged from public hospitals in ten years, an increase of 70%.

The situation is not all bad. The HSE has a job to do and I encourage the Minister in this regard. The small-minded swipe by the Opposition at the Minister, Deputy Harney, with regard to her trip to the US was unbecoming of the members of the Opposition. It distracted from what is a serious debate. I wish the Minister well.

See this speech in context