Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and thank Fianna Fáil for giving Members the opportunity to discuss this important issue. Like my colleague, Deputy Ó Caoláin, in theory I do not have a problem with the first section of the Fianna Fáil Private Members' motion. However, in keeping with Sinn Féin policy and my views on this subject, I have serious concerns, both politically and ideologically, regarding the second part of the motion. Therefore I support my party's amendments and concur with the view that this motion should be about health care and not, as Fianna Fáil would have it, private health insurance. Any discussion on the issue of health insurance, no matter how politically progressive and socially enlightened, carries with it a sub-text in respect of issues of access, management and profitability. In other words, it raises questions regarding who can afford to pay, how much it will cost and how efficient it will be. In planning or imagining a decent health care system for a modern state in the 21st century, these questions merely serve to reinforce both in material and ideological terms the system of apartheid that currently exists in the provision of health care in Ireland. That Fianna Fáil would wish to perpetuate this system should come as no shock because when in office, Fianna Fáil, under the ministries of Deputy Micheál Martin, Brian Cowen and Mary Harney, vigorously pursued a policy of vulgar privatisation of the State's health service that Members now know has had a devastating impact on the provision of public health care in this country.

Today, our public health care system is essentially broken, and this is in spite of the gallant efforts of the medical, nursing and domestic staff who work tirelessly, day in and day out, to keep the system going. The appalling situation has arisen whereby the working poor and the under-employed will delay going to the doctor due to the high cost associated with such a visit. Many people cannot afford to pay for medication because they simply do not have the money. Seriously ill people wait for months if not years to see a specialist. The free dental scheme, which is so important for the disabled, the poor and the vulnerable has been all but dismantled. This unfortunately is the reality of health care in today's Ireland. We have a dysfunctional public health care system, which in large measure is a legacy of Fianna Fáil's love affair with privatisation. In many ways tonight's Private Members' motion reflects this distorted thinking about health care. Any discussion about the provision of health care must begin from the premise of universal access. For-profit models do not belong in this discussion as they serve to reproduce a system that is inherently unequal and seriously disadvantages the working poor and the vulnerable. Sinn Féin is committed to building a universal public health care system that is found in most modern advanced states.

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