Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. As I have indicated before, the NESF produced a series of extremely useful reports over the years which were always intended to inform the policy making of Government. Having taken significant guidance from several of the reports produced, I believe that they have stood the test of time. I am thinking in particular of the 2002 report on the health services which stated that structural change in the delivery of services was absolutely necessary. That was specifically to address the two-tier public-private health system in the acute hospital network. Most significantly, this particular NESF report indicated that the system was left unchanged in the Government's health strategy.

Clearly, despite the fact that the NESF reports were intended to inform policy making, the Government has chosen to ignore them time and again. They still stand the test of time, however, and have a currency and relevance for the future. I have two questions. Given that the specific report, which is just a sample of the range produced, showed that there was a far greater private use of public hospitals in this jurisdiction than in any other EU member state, as well as the unfavourable level of inequity relative to all other member states in access to first referral for consultant appointments for public as against private patients, what does the Government intend to do with the NESF's body of work over all those years? What is the situation in relation to the reports produced by the NESF and the recommendations contained therein? With the passage of time it has been consistently demonstrated that the Government failed to take on board the recommendations, at the public's cost in real terms.

I take note of what the Taoiseach has said in his reply, but will the NESC now fulfil the same role as the NESF? Will it carry out required research and make recommendations to Government in relation to social and economic policy across all the policy areas that affect the daily lives of our citizens?

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