John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important debate. Given that I have heard few contributions relating waiting lists, matters are not that bad. We all have an obligation to ensure the public is treated for elective surgery in particular in as quick and efficient a manner as possible. I commend the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, which has reduced the average waiting time substantially from between two to five years to two and a half or three months in some cases. This is progress and the Minister should be commended for the significant part she played in it.

As the Minister stated, many Members on the far side of the House have used the opportunity to mention parochial issues. That is human nature and we all take liberties at times. However, now is the time to be serious about the situation this country faces. From time to time, the HSE comes in for a great deal of criticism from us all. Some of that is merited, but much is not. It is unfair that we often point the finger at administrative staff, management and so on. The HSE is the largest employer in the country. Its 100,000 employees comprise many different stakeholders. Human nature being what it is, each stakeholder wants to hold his or her own ground and to get the best for the people he or she represents. While this can be commendable, the time has come for each stakeholder within the HSE to buy into creating the efficiencies mentioned by the Minister and Deputy Reilly. It is fair to say they were in agreement on some of their points, which was sensible and responsible of them. Where HSE west is concerned, both Members pointed out where further efficiencies and savings could be made, whether through dealing with absenteeism, collecting additional insurance money or so on.

My area forms part of HSE west and is facing a situation similar to that faced by all of HSE west. I commend the stakeholders for the responsible manner in which they have behaved in recent weeks. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan on the Labour Party benches convened a meeting between public representatives and trade unions. It is only fair to commend the trade unions involved on the responsible way in which they played their role.

A theatre was to close down in Croom but I received a call from an orthopaedic surgeon who told me there was a better way to make the same saving. The HSE asked what the other way was and sat down in a dialogue. The theatre will not now close. This was a sensible and responsible approach. Another issue arose when staff in the orthopaedic hospital in Croom were to be redeployed to the regional hospital in Limerick. The trade unions sat down and agreed to allow it.

It is not all bad. There are ways in which we can create further efficiencies. At present, the total spend on health amounts to all our income tax moneys plus one third of other income to the State. We cannot have it every way. Of course, we want the best health service possible for the people in our country but we also want the best justice and law and order system, the best education system and every other kind of system. We must be fair and reasonable. The sum available is €14.6 billion and we have to bring in efficiencies and work within the budget. We did that successfully in many of the health boards throughout the country and I believe we will do so again, certainly in HSE mid-west. It is important that we should have at least the same level of successful outcomes, enhance that where and if we can and continue to work in that fashion.

I commend the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, for her stewardship in recent years. Like the Taoiseach, she has been the subject of personalised attacks on many occasions by Members both inside and outside the House. That is despicable. If we want to criticise a person we should do so on his or her performance, but that is not possible in this case because the Minister has performed exceptionally well.

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