Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

This is not a personal matter. I concluded a long time ago that the HSE is not the ideal body to administer health services. I ask the Minister to revert to the old system, which was at least accountable to some extent. It was transparent to some extent and could be challenged. Members were able to receive answers to parliamentary questions on vital issues in the House daily. They did not have to wait three months for the parliamentary division of the HSE to respond. Why there is such a division in the HSE, I do not know. This is the House of Parliament, where answers ought to be given and where information is supposed to be challenged. We should not have to wait at all.

I strongly opposed every measure in this Bill, as I opposed virtually every measure proposed by the HSE through the Minister, or by the Minister through the HSE, over recent years. I have long since concluded that the HSE is an unwieldy body. It is supposed to do a job that should be straightforward, simple and targeted, but it is not doing so.

Let nobody suggest that centres of excellence will solve all our problems. Every facility provided by the health service is supposed to be excellent. There is supposed to be no second, third or fourth level, or a level for the poor or others. All the services are supposed to be universal services of a high standard and readily available.

Over recent months, we noted the added irony of backlogs. There was a backlog for medical cards and one had to wait three or four months therefor. The Minister used to state that, due to an industrial dispute, it was impossible to answer parliamentary questions at the time they were asked.

In many cases, the unfortunate person on whose behalf a Deputy raised the question died in the intervening period. The Minister would add that, if the matter continued to be an issue, the Deputy could raise it with her again. Was this a suggestion that one would be inspired to the point of no longer feeling sufficient urgency about raising the matter in the House again?

I am glad to say that the Minister is even longer in the House than I am, but I am willing to follow in her footsteps. When someone raises by way of a parliamentary question an issue that affects the community at large or an individual, it is urgent and needs to be addressed with respect and within a specified period. There are no excuses for doing otherwise. Since entering the House, I have known of no answer being deferred because of a dispute. At every dispute during my time in the House, provision was made to ensure answers were given when required. This time, it suited the Government not to give answers because it did not need to spend money. It could postpone or adjourn everything. The books were better balanced, but only by not providing the services intended for a particular cohort of the public.

I pay tribute to the many great people and professionals within the HSE, but they are frustrated. They threw up their hands long ago and asked why they should be the ones carrying the responsibility when no one else seemed to be doing so.

In this and other services, the number of forms that must be filled up by an individual to get a basic service could be included on a single A4, but there is duplication and triplication. If anything is wrong, forms are returned after two or three months. More often than not, they are not returned to the Deputies who raised the questions, but to someone else. Eventually, the whole system will break down. More people are involved in recycling mounds of paper that are in danger of going on fire if they are not dealt with, but some of them have been sitting there for the past three months. I have not mentioned the issue of supplementary welfare, as it is not contained in the Bill, but it is a classic example. Supplementary welfare, rent support and so on are being recirculated in such a way as to make it impossible for the public to access a service that is justly theirs. The Acting Chairman will be delighted to know that I will not continue. This is my submission.

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