Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important motion. It is extraordinary that in two years Fianna Fáil is returning to form. It has abdicated its responsibility and forgotten it was in Government. It never took the Department of Health and Children as it left it to Ms Mary Harney. It did not have the courage to take it.

Let me cast the minds of the Members opposite back to 2008. Some €700 was the price of a premium. Under the Fianna Fáil regime, the costs spiralled. Since 2008, more than 200,000 people have left the health insurance market. It is worth noting that at the peak, 50.9% of the population had health insurance. Unfortunately, this figure has reduced to 45.8%.

Significantly, despite all the pandering and posturing by previous Administrations, we now have a Minister who has set about creating a universal single-tier health service. The best that the Members opposite can say is that this is not happening fast enough. They ask whether there are clear pathways. They should examine the recently published document The Path to Universal Healthcare, on which we should have a debate. For once, we are in circumstances in which we will have people gaining access to medical care not on the basis of what they can pay, who they are or where they come from, but on the basis of their needs and how they can be treated and cared for properly, promptly and decently. The model of health care that the Government and I espouse is based on this philosophy. Anybody who promulgates a different version is talking out of both sides of his mouth.

It is about time that we got real in this country regarding health care. For far too long, we have let the vested interests dominate, take over and dictate what happens. For once, we have a Minister who is prepared to drive reform and implement change. While this may take time and while we may need to go to Legoland and back, I hope that on the way to Legoland we can build the blocks on a sustainable foundation that will not collapse like the Micheál Martin-Mary Harney model that has left us where we are today.

The priority is to examine what the health insurers are doing because they all have a responsibility. Members have focused on the VHI in this debate as it is the dominant market player. It must lead the drive to reduce costs. Our main question, to which Deputy Kelleher referred last night, concerns increasing costs. The Deputy is correct that they are increasing but the current Minister is the one who has said consistently to the insurers that they must keep their costs down.

It is tough for Deputy Dooley being in opposition. When his party was on this side of the House for 14 years, he was like a little mouse. He did not budge or open his mouth.

I ask him not to open it now. If I was him, I would be embarrassed given Fianna Fáil's record in government. I would not say too much about it. I appreciate his difficulties.

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