Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle can wince as much as he likes, but it is time to call a halt to this. We have been under siege. What Deputy Colreavy described is happening throughout the country. Unfortunate people from rural areas and elsewhere are being thrown to the wolves by a system that is out of control, that is not fit for purpose and which the Minister said he would dismantle. The former taoisigh, former Deputy Bertie Ahern and former Deputy Brian Cowen, and the former Minister, former Deputy Dermot Ahern, agreed, as I know from being involved with the party at the time, that the HSE should be disbanded because it was out of control. That was a few years ago.

The Minister took away duties from the board but the board is still there and still making demands. I and Deputy Seamus Healy had a Topical Issue debate recently in the House about the waiting list in Clonmel but the only response I received was jargon about bed managers, ward managers and other managers. When there were matrons in the hospitals there were none of these managers and we had clean healthy hospitals that were accessible. Now we have hoards of pen pushers and people with letters after their names. It is a system of self-serving people, rather than a system that serves the public. These people have big wages and big job titles but many of them are doing nothing aside from adding to the problems and creating more problems. Nobody can touch them or take them on. Somebody needs to call time on those people.

The front-line services are being attacked and are under siege. The self-serving people that are in charge are destroying the health service we had, such as the accountability the ordinary members had on the health boards. It is time we got back to serving and looking after people with dignity and respect, not leaving them on corridors, removing services from them and frightening them from making complaints. It is outrageous.

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