Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

——so that units can come together in smaller counties. Similarly, the 80:20 ratio of private to public patients could be taken in the context of existing provision because the balance in the health service as a whole is not far from 50:50. We have, for better or worse, a hybrid health system which encourages people who can provide for themselves to do so. One might argue against that but it was settled 50 or 60 years ago.

This is an excellent use of tax breaks. I see absolutely no incompatibility with long-standing Fianna Fáil policy. I can well imagine that it would be introduced, regardless of who our partners in Government were. There is a certain allergy in parts of the House to the very notion of private profit but our whole mixed social market economy operates on that basis.

Very crude criticisms were made of the Government's economic policy by a party which does not have any coherent economic policy that I am aware of. I was shocked, although not surprised, to hear any Deputy refer to this as a partial parliament in a semi-statelet. I have always had great difficulty understanding so called republicans who do not recognise this Republic. It throws into context the party in question's presenting itself as the champion of sovereignty and democracy when it is clear that the Deputy opposite does not recognise the sovereignty of either this State or its people. The European Union in the past 35 years has had much more respect for sovereignty and democracy in this country than the party opposite.

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