Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

While I had no expectation that the reforms in the health service would be delivered overnight, I had an expectation that by now the direction would be shaped, a vision outlined and a credible plan of action put in place. Where I agree with Fianna Fáil's motion of no confidence is that the budget put forward was completely unrealistic from the outset. For example, the notion that agency staff could have been dispensed with at a time when an unfocused early retirement scheme had just kicked in was completely unrealistic and it was predictable that problems would arise. However, I believe the Government is justified in its criticisms of the proposers who, after all, created so many of the problems evident in the health services today. Unfortunately, I was not in any way surprised to see disabled people taking to the streets in protest when cruel cuts were targeted at them in particular. These cuts would have undermined them and would have taken away their hard-won independence. Not only was this measure cruel, but it is not even cost-efficient when measured against the institutional care model it would have been necessary to use as a substitute. Although the Government committed to protect the vulnerable, it is glaringly obvious it has not done and is not doing so. Unfortunately, this is just one example of the kind of front line cuts evident to all Members. Baby clinics have been dispensed with, dental oversight in primary schools has been cancelled and home help hours have been specifically curtailed, on foot of which highly vulnerable and often elderly people have been affected. These are merely a sample of what Members encounter routinely.

I also had expected to see some major institutional changes at the HSE. It appears that what is proposed is yet another top layer of management with little of the kind of reform desired or needed by citizens and so many of those working within the system at all levels below management. A single look at the HSE's website reveals the chaotic structure behind it, which only is intelligible to those who work within the system and certainly is not citizen-friendly. People have a right to real reform, not a bookkeeping exercise. However, the latter is what they are getting and this is what must change.

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