Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Murphy and compliment him on bringing the Bill before the House. It is a great guide not only to the voting public, but to politicians. Sometimes we are so engrossed in our work that we do not understand where funding is coming from or where it is going.

One fifth of our contributions are spent on health. For 14 years the previous Government threw money at a system and did nothing about it. In my own county of Roscommon, that Government spent between €7 million and €10 million on a new accident and emergency unit and then set up HIQA with terms of reference to close it down. A year and a half ago, I went to a public meeting where a man announced, to huge applause, that we needed only an extra €10 million a year to keep the unit open. Where did that gentleman think the money would come from, or why did he feel €10 million should be spent on running an accident and emergency unit that HIQA judged to be unsafe? People call for more money, but they do not understand that how money is spent and getting value for money is often more important.

I pay tribute to the Minister for Health, with €1.7 billion out of the general budget on health. I pay tribute to nurses and doctors and the people on the front line of the health services. They have helped to keep a system up and running with such reduced funding. This must happen. When the country's finances fell off the cliff, it was the current Government that had to address a serious situation. We have been in denial with regard to our finances for a long time. The Bill will be a reader's digest of where our finances go.

Three months ago, I flew from Frankfurt Hahn airport to Knock and approximately 95% of the passengers on the Ryanair flight were middle to upper income German people. Michael O'Leary may not want to hear that when the stewardess brought the trolley of coffee, tea and sandwiches along the cabin, not one person bought anything from her. The passengers realised that what she was selling was not good value. They could get a better meal for €20 elsewhere. If that had been a flight from London to Ireland full of Irish passengers, we would all have bought a sandwich, a coffee or a beer, spending €20 upon €20. German people get value for money. We must, as a country, get value for money too. In recent years, I did not always get value for money. As a country and as a Government, we must do so.

I thank Deputy Murphy and compliment him on bringing the Bill to the House. It is a very fair Bill.

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