Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

While I do not speak for everyone, virtually every Member of the House understands that centres of excellence are the way to go — it is a "no-brainer". That is where people will have the best outcome and the best prognosis and where multidisciplinary teams will be found. This is the message we have heard from the Minister for Health and Children for the past year. Everyone agreed with this before they got around to examining the nitty gritty with regard to the centres of excellence. I am not just supporting this policy because there is a centre of excellence in Cork but because I believe it is the way to go. There were also references to the centres at Limerick and St. Vincent's Hospital. However, for a centre to be excellent, it must be resourced to the maximum extent. This is not happening, which is very worrying.

I put down several questions with regard to two obstetric theatres that are still not open in the new Cork University Maternity Hospital. It has a magnificent building and it is incredible to read of the services it is intended to provide there. However, it cannot provide the services because it does not have the facilities or staff to give the level of care we expect for our citizens.

I listened to Deputy Mansergh earlier — I have listened to him often in the past 12 months. All I can say is that it is clear the benefits of a classical education are very good for writing speeches but not very good for finding solutions. He comes here and quotes from every revolution he can think of from centuries ago. He does not talk about what is happening today or the solutions needed but instead tells us about the great classical battles. Thank God for him. He is a bit of entertainment, if nothing else.

There is familiarity about the debate on cancer services in Ireland. That familiarity relates to a Minister, who, when asked about an issue, replied: "I never heard of it. I never got to know about it." When the Minister, Deputy Martin, vacated the chair now taken by the current Minister for Health and Children, we thought this was gone by the board. There was the nursing home scandal where the then Minister, Deputy Martin, never read the file. There is the issue of Professor Peter Naughton's letter which was sent in November 2002 and which Deputy Martin now admits he saw although he does not know where it is and cannot remember if he read it. It is mind-blowing. This is typical of an institution where everybody has a particular job to do but nobody knows to whom they are supposed to report or what is their specific area of expertise, and, therefore, no-one is responsible.

At the end of the day, someone must be responsible. We cannot continue to have meetings of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children where the Minister tells us "That never happened. We do not have that letter", only for it to be suddenly produced. We cannot have a Minister for Health and Children who tells the committee meetings that no other women are being called back because of misdiagnosis only for us to find there are 97 such women. This cannot continue and it is our duty to ensure it does not happen again. To continue to operate a health service at this level is not good enough. We need to begin to build up confidence in the health service among the population.

Deputy Finian McGrath referred to congratulating Professor Keane. He sounds fantastic and if he does what he intends to do, it will be great. However, it is a bit early to know whether he will get the resources necessary to give us the type of cancer care he managed to deliver in Canada. Will he get those resources? That is the big question.

In five years, will we talk about a machine that should have been replaced ten years ago? Will we once again blame the equipment? Whose job was it to decide the machine did not work properly and should be replaced? It was not the job of the radiologist. I am a great believer in delegating responsibility and having a clear chain of command. In five years, will we say a piece of machinery is obsolete and should have been replaced?

Warren Buffett, reputed to be the wealthiest man in the world, applies his philosophy to all businesses across the board. When commenting on the woes of financial institutions, he once said: "You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out". The tide has gone out on this issue.

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