Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Social Protection was certainly handed a poisoned chalice this morning when she was obliged to come before the House to defend the indefensible. It could be stated that to lose one Minister of State is unfortunate but to lose two is certainly careless. I take the opportunity to pay tribute to Deputy Róisín Shortall for taking a courageous decision and for standing by her and her party's policies. Last night she stated the public had a right to expect that decisions on health infrastructure and staffing would be made in the public interest and based on health needs rather than being driven by other concerns.

The question must be asked as to where the Labour Party stands within the Government. When will those in the Labour Party accept that health policy is being led by clientelism and driven towards privatisation by their bosses in government? Primary health care centres such as that at Ballaghaderreen which are not even in the top 200 on the priority list have now been prioritised. These centres are to be delivered by means of public private partnerships, PPPs, which are licences to print money.

I wish to put to the Minister for Social Protection the questions posed by Deputy Róisín Shortall in the House last week. To date, she has clearly refused to answer any of them. Is the Government intent on reforming and strengthening the public health service or does it intend to privatise large parts of it? How will it ensure access to and equity within the health service will be guaranteed? Is this the type of health service the Government wants for the people? In its election manifesto the Labour Party claimed that it would reform the unfair, two-tier health system in order to reduce the cost of delivering care and use the savings realised as a result to extend universal access to essential medical care. Will the Minister for Social Protection inform us now, once and for all, that this promise is dead? How can any other Labour Minister of State hope to deliver on these promises when he or she will not even be able to rely on the support of his or her party leader?

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