Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Last week saw the spectacle of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, calling on the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, to intervene personally to address the deficit, as well as expressing his concerns about governance within the health service. Fianna Fáil has asked consistently in the Chamber about the proposed HSE governance Bill because, as the Taoiseach is aware, well over 12 months ago the Minister, Deputy Reilly, abolished the board of the HSE, put nothing in its place and assumed control himself. Since then, most analysts will accept it has been quite directionless and no one has a sense of where the health service is going in respect of any of the major items in the programme for Government. Moreover, no one has a sense of who is or has been responsible over the past 12 months in respect of the ongoing drift. The Taoiseach should provide a timeline in respect of the HSE governance Bill, both with regard to its publication and as to when he expects the Bill to be brought before the House, debated and implemented.

In respect of promised legislation, I raised an issue during Leaders' Questions about what I consider to have been a false Estimate provided to this House last December by the Minister for Health. Part of the reasoning behind that concerned the figures, wherein a sum of €124 million was included in respect of drug pricing. The Taoiseach should outline to Members the current status of the health (pricing and supply of medical goods) Bill. When can Members expect publication and completion of this Bill and what is the timeline for its implementation? The Estimate was included in December but the chief executive officer of the HSE has stated that figure is not realisable and simply cannot be achieved. Of course it cannot be achieved if neither the legislation nor the agreements necessary to achieve it have been put in place. It was only last week that the Minister announced he had agreed to enter into talks with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association.

There seems to me to have been complete dishonesty about all of this. How can such big figures be put into the Estimate on the revenue side if the basic mechanics to facilitate the collection of that money have not even been put in place? That is disgraceful. We need answers because as an alternative to what was proposed in December, the Minister will now hit front-line services. Deputy Deasy said that this would mean ward closures, bed closures and so on. The Minister lashed out at workers last week. In spite of the fact that Cathal Magee said he was happy with the implementation of the Croke Park agreement and the health service, the Minister started focusing on workers because of his own failings.

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