James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

Today is a great one for the Taoiseach, Deputy Cowen. It is a proud day for him, for Offaly and for his family. I genuinely wish him well in his endeavours.

The Taoiseach referred to social inclusion. I hope that he was not merely uttering weasel or empty words. If he means what he says, then co-located hospitals should be a thought from the past and not a thing of the future.

They have the potential to cause tremendous social division. A situation will arise where people with influence — those with insurance and wealth — will turn right, to the new, well funded private hospital, while those without influence — those with medical cards, no insurance and chronic illness — will turn left, into a public health service that will continue to be undermined, as has been the case over the past 12 months, by the Minister the Taoiseach has seen fit to reappoint today. I must echo the comments of others in this regard.

An example of how co-located hospitals are manifesting themselves in the most despicable way is the case of St. Ita's and Beaumont hospital. The co-located hospital at Beaumont will occupy the site for which planning permission was awarded for a new psychiatric unit in 2004. It was put out to tender in 2005 but the site will be occupied by a private hospital while 23 men are housed in one ward and 23 women in another, with 3 ft between their beds and access to just a small bank of three toilets, one shower and one bathroom. They are to be left in this temporary facility that was built 40 years ago. To the back of the queue with them, while private enterprise moves on ahead. I hope the Taoiseach will be as good as his word and pursue a policy in health and education, as elsewhere, that means social inclusion.

The Minister, Deputy Harney, made an extraordinary statement in the House earlier. She obviously did not hear what Dr. Peter Boylan had to say. With regard to her comments on longevity having improved here, there are many social as well as medical factors which influence this. What she had to say should be told to the relatives of Suzy Long. What good is it to those like Beverly Seville Doyle, who died in a toilet in the Mater Hospital after waiting 19 hours in accident and emergency? What good is it to 76-year old Peg McEntee, who suffers from Alzheimer's and who asked to be let die in the Mater Hospital, having waited so long for a bed? Thankfully, she is at home and looking much better. The list continues of the many who suffered as a consequence of this Minister's inaction and inability to take action when forewarned, as in the case of the 97 women in Portlaoise, in the Taoiseach's constituency, who found out about their recall on the news.

What has she put forward with regard to change, innovation and reform? Her fair deal seems to have run into the ground. It was promised since before Christmas but there is still no sign of it — there are legal issues, we are told. A consultant contract which we were told with great fanfare was in place several weeks ago is still awaited. The Psychiatric Nurses Association is taking industrial action and causing problems in the health service, particularly the psychiatric health service where its members work. The IMPACT trade union is threatening industrial action. The list goes on.

This could have been the Taoiseach's opportunity to make his mark on the health service, so he would not be remembered only as the man who referred to it as "Angola" after two years as Minister — hardly a legacy of which one would be proud. This could have been his opportunity to institute radical reform in the HSE, which we now know is a bloated and dysfunctional bureaucracy, as highlighted in report after report. We know why this happened, namely, because the Government on its formation in 2002 would not bite the bullet of redundancies and instead merged 11 companies.

The list goes on in regard to cutbacks and issues around the budget sought by the HSE, which has been left almost €500 million short with €14.1 billion instead of €14.7 billion, with €200 million for extra work. It is clear there has been a long list of cutbacks throughout the country. Blanchardstown hospital is closing surgical and medical wards for a month. Galway City Hospital, the centre of excellence for the west and north west, will close for the month of August, the busiest month of the tourist season despite Galway being the capital of tourism in Ireland.

I had hoped to address many other issues and I had hoped to finish on a positive note. However, it is very difficult to be positive when we will have in pole position the same Minister who has presided over this disaster — it has been a disaster, as others have said. What chance is there of change when there remains in position a Minister who repeatedly ignores warning letters from consultants and other concerned people about problems that are pending, and who continues to strip out services before the services that are supposed to replace them are built, thus endangering patients, often with fatal consequences? I wish the Taoiseach well but I regret this missed opportunity to start anew in the health service. His failure to replace the Minister for Health and Children does not augur well for health care.

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