Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There has clearly been little or no meaningful progress on the White Paper on universal health insurance. Without this we have no clear indication of the anticipated relationship between hospitals and insurers and the crucial purchaser-provider relationship. That has consequences for all hospitals when it comes to services.

Would the Minister accept that the future role of hospitals will be determined not by Professor Higgins but by these competing private insurers? At the end of the day, they will be the determinants of the level of service provided at any of the hospital sites.

There is no evidence for - and in fact, there is growing concern about - the Minister's preferred model of multiple competing insurers. There is no proper debate on alternative models. The model to which, by all accounts, the Minister is married will drive costs up rather than down. Greater efficiencies would be gained through the single insurer approach. Is it well past time for the Minister to draw a breath on this and consider all of the possible alternatives? His approach, I fear, will not succeed.

See this speech in context