Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak on this proposed legislation. The Minister stated:

This Bill is intended as a transitional measure. It does not abolish the HSE or change its legal status under the Health Act 2004 which established the executive. Its main objective is to bring greater focus on service delivery and ensure more accountability during the time the HSE continues in existence. While it is a transitional measure, it is nonetheless fundamental as a key step in the reform process.

I have followed the debate on my monitor and in the Chamber and, while I do not want to disagree with my colleagues, I only wish I could have their faith and enthusiasm.

As a medical practitioner with vast experience, the Minister should have understood the ramifications of the many, varied and somewhat desperate promises he made before the election. They were ridiculous in the extreme because anybody could have told him that the previous Government was departing office speedily and had practically disintegrated. He did not need to make any promises but that would not do for him. Whether due to a rush of adrenaline or for some other reason, he had to tour the country, including my own county, and make promise after promise. He must have realised most of his promises could not be fulfilled. They were aspirational, unnecessary and overly zealous.

The Minister inherited a structure which was created in 2004 to bring all the health boards together. Bad and all as the health boards were, at least they offered local accountability. He complained on a daily basis about the then Government's failure to issue replies to his parliamentary questions. Questions were disallowed because they were matters for the HSE rather than the Minister for Health and Children. He promised reform of the system, with universal health care and free GPs for all. I think he referred to the Danish model but I may be wrong about the country. He knew it could not be done unless there was radical reform. I do not know who drafted this Bill but it is another cop-out. It shies away from the political decisions required to deal with an out of date and outrageous organisation. Many good people work in the HSE on the front line and in back offices but it is not fit for purpose as a working vehicle for delivering modern health services. It was cobbled together without the loss of a single job.

As a small businessman I am aware that a business is not viable if wages comprise more than 50% of its costs. It is unviable and workable and, with the way the Minister is going, it is going to be unfixable. I would love to have the enthusiasm of the backbenchers who commended him on his actions. At the rate we are going we could be here in 2030 and this monstrosity will not have been dismantled. It has grown into a monstrosity and many good people are striving day in and day out to provide services for sick people. On Monday evening I attended a funeral in Clonmel. The family of the deceased were loud in their praise of hospital services. When one is able to get into hospital the services are very good, but the bureaucracy and pen pushers surrounds all this.

A nun retired recently from a small hospital in my county. Her name was Sister Áine and she was one of the last remaining matrons. She ran the hospital not with an iron fist, but with authority and respect. There were no instances of MRSA or the disappointing HIQA reports that were published on my own hospital in south Tipperary, which I will not discuss until I find out the facts. One could see that when one walked into the hospital. We have lost the system where one person had authority. When a patient entered hospital and the matron was in charge, there were no bed managers, ward managers or risk assessment managers. We have a manager for this, that and the other. In many cases they have nothing to manage. The problem is there are too many layers. Many people use the system to climb to positions of authority. It is a shame that the system was allowed to grow when the HSE was established by the previous Government in 2004 without ever weeding out the dead wood. The contract cleaners and everything else then came in. This is where the problem began. When a matron was in charge there were no contract cleaners. The blessed medal was put under a statue and someone was called in to explain why the cleaning was not done properly if the statue was not moved. There were no cases of dust on window sills, telephones or computers. The work was carried out with respect and dignity for those who went before.

The Minister has a hard job but he created the hardest job for himself. He created so many expectations and made so many promises that he cannot fulfil them. He should have known that because he negotiated on behalf of his former colleagues with previous Ministers. Nobody was in a better position to assess the problems but his lust for power was too much. He was going to wave the wand and everything else. I will never forget the day he came to Clonmel. I waited two and a half hours for him to arrive and a further two hours while he launched a project in St. Luke's connected to Limerick Institute of Technology. He was to meet Oireachtas Members as a common courtesy but he ran out of the place faster than Cromwell was hunted out of Clonmel. He nearly knocked the patients from their trolleys such was his indecent haste. He ran up and down the wards, then jumped into his car and departed like the flight of the earls. He has not returned but he is welcome to leave us and the model we are working towards in south Tipperary and the south east alone.

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