Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

On the Deputy's final point, this is precisely what we are changing by introducing a new contract. It is not acceptable to me, as a citizen and human being, that some people are given preferential access to services which are fully funded by our taxpayers, including the cost of staff. In the past ten days, a friend of mine who telephoned a public hospital to make an arrangement for a parent was asked whether the patient would be public or private. She was disgusted by this question, although the person in question had private health insurance, because she did not believe preferential treatment should be given. This approach must be brought to an end.

Universal health insurance does not address this issue if it is simply a question of paying consultants more money on top of their public salary to see other patients. The new contract——

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