Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We need a debate on the promissory note negotiations, a promissory note, the House will recall, which was created by Fianna Fáil and which the people cannot afford to pay.

I wish to put to the Taoiseach another question which I hope he will be able to answer clearly. Due to some intrepid work by journalists, who used freedom of information requests, we learned that hospital upgrades were fast-tracked by the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, at the behest of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, in their respective constituencies ahead of other hospitals upgrades and capital works in hospitals throughout the State.

No one in Sinn Féin begrudges the people of Kilkenny, Carlow or Wexford their hospital services. There are other priorities in the region, including the need for a palliative care centre for the south east. However, the Labour Party Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, authorised the €12 million budget for the Wexford Hospital upgrade without reference to the HSE board, which was only informed of these decisions one month after they were announced by the Ministers. The Government has downgraded hospitals in Dundalk, Navan, Ennis, Nenagh and elsewhere and it has broken promises to restore accident and emergency services to hospitals in Roscommon and Monaghan.

The problem with the Government, like the Fianna Fáil Government before it, is that there is no real transparency in Fine Gael and Labour Party decisions. The Taoiseach will recall the famous programme for Government in which he committed to openness and transparency, but the decisions about these two hospitals, like the decisions of the Minister, Deputy Reilly, on primary care centres, were only revealed because journalists and Deputies asked questions. How long will the Taoiseach allow the Minister, Deputy Reilly, to act in breach of his commitments in the programme for Government and in complete conflict with the public interest?

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