Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I wanted to ask some questions asked by Deputy Reilly but to which he did not get answers. Is one of the difficulties we have that the Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, and Fianna Fáil are semi-detached from responsibility for health? The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, is regarded as not being one of them. They believe she is in reality but it suits them to say she is not because it allows them to claim, as a consequence, that they cannot get answers. Consider what occurred at the meeting in December. Is the Minister of State seriously repeating to the House that, having become aware of the scale of this problem, all Professor Conlon did was mention it on the edges of a meeting to the Minister for Health and Children? I find that virtually impossible to believe.

Bearing in mind the point raised by Deputy Brian Hayes, I find it impossible that HIQA would not bother reporting this to the Department of Health and Children or the HSE. Is the dereliction of accountability in the health service now so advanced that something of this scale is not even worthy of being reported any more? Why was the backlog not cleared by March 2010, as committed to? When will it be cleared? Have private patients been affected in the same way as public patients? Did the matter arise because consultants were tied up dealing with their private patients?

With regard to the relative caseload at St. Vincent's and Tallaght hospitals, why is the latter so disadvantaged in terms of posts? Will this be rectified?

One assumes St. Patrick's Day will fall, as it traditionally does, on 17 March. What preparations is it necessary for the Minister to make for the St. Patrick's Day festivities in New Zealand that she cannot be here today to deal with an issue that one suspects she knew very well was in the pipeline. There must be extensive preparations to be made in Auckland if she has to be there already. Is this not reminiscent of the famous failure by the then Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, to read his brief on nursing home charges, which ended up costing the State an additional €120 million?

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