John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am not from the region, so I cannot be accused of being parochial. I rise to support the Minister of State and Deputies from the region who support Government policy. I do so on foot of what I have heard last evening and again tonight. I was here for a similar debate ten years ago, which was about the provision of cancer services. Everything I hear now is a repeat of what happened back then.

One of the Opposition Deputies stated that we should support the people, and I accept that. For five years, I was on the wrong side of the people in my constituency. When it comes to health issues, there is always a concern for politicians that the people may be right, especially when huge crowds gather to explain how wrong we are. It is often important to rely upon independent medical advice, especially when we are talking about life and death issues. It is not for me to be critical of anybody who supports a different point of view, but I would like to make a few points.

In the early 1990s I was in the peculiar position of supporting a Fine Gael Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Noonan. He came out with the national cancer strategy and supported Tullamore as opposed to Portlaoise. The issues that are being raised today were raised then. Huge pressure was brought to bear on Opposition Deputies. I do not quote Members when they are not in the House, but I found it difficult to hear the current Minister criticised by the Fine Gael spokesperson on health, when he stated that what had happened in Portlaoise lay directly at her doorstep. The Minister is a much greater political thinker than I am, because she did not want to enter that particular debate. The issue is about the reconfiguration of health services based on the premise of ensuring patient safety in the first instance. The most important part of the debate back then was that by ensuring a critical mass of people presenting to busy clinical hospitals, the consultants would be upskilled therein, which is the same debate today.

The president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland made the point that the college supports this reform. I find it difficult that the current Minister can be accused of creating difficulties in my hospital, because if Deputies from the Fine Gael-led Government of the 1990s had supported their then Minister for Health and Children, the difficulties we have had in Portlaoise in the past two years would never have occurred. We are being accused this evening of not listening to the people, but the reality back then is that had we listened to the independent medical advice that has been given today, we would never have had the sorry situation that occurred in Portlaoise. The centre of excellence would have been in Tullamore and it could not have been used as a political football as it was last night.

I want to go back to the Teamwork report, which identified the same issues that occurred in Laois and Offaly ten years ago. Some Members of the Opposition, especially Deputy Reilly, might want to forget about them. The Teamwork report identified a number of significant issues relating to how hospital services in the mid-west are organised. The most important part of the report is that the core specialties of general medicine, general surgery, accident and emergency services and critical care are too fragmented. This underpins the strategy involved here and the difficulties that were involved when the national cancer strategy was being rolled out. I must give credit to the Minister, Deputy Harney, for initiating the national cancer strategy that is now working, and now clearly initiating a national cancer strategy for the reconfiguration of hospitals throughout the country. It is a confirmation of the Government's policy of maximising and improving public health, the cost of which is often a little political pain on the ground. In the context of the debate in this House, I would prefer to be on the side of those who support patient safety.

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