Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)

In a way, I admire what Fianna Fáil is trying to do. Moreover, it is not simply trying to do this at national level, because it also is so engaged at county and town council levels. It is attempting to disassociate the past from the present. That is fair enough and is an admirable thing to do but unfortunately, the past always is a significant factorial of the present. This is the case on an individual basis in one's own life when one looks back on the past and considers how it shapes one's future. Unfortunately, I refer to the components and factorials of the past in respect of the input of Fianna Fáil's boss man, Deputy Martin, who, as Minister between 2000 and 2004, spent €16 million on reports while creating the HSE. More ironically, in 2000 he spent €600,000 on a value for money audit while creating the culture of the HSE monster that is alive and present in the world in which Members now live. As Deputy Hannigan noted, it will take a long time to sort it out.

As recently as last Friday, the HSE met in Galway to discuss the service plan for the HSE est region-----

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