Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

They are more important than the national Parliament. That shows the commitment to political reform in this Chamber.

Last year the Minister said that his measures to reduce the cost of drugs and prescribed items would save €160 million in 2013 and €330 million in 2014 and subsequent years. We all know these figures were a figment of the Minister's imagination. It did not happen, and never will. The Department of Health has been promising for the last two years to make substantial savings in this area and it has clearly failed to achieve its targets. It recently emerged at the Committee of Public Accounts that the senior officials in the Department of Health and the HSE who are responsible for purchasing these drugs and prescribed items have never met the suppliers of these products. This is a shocking situation and it explains why they are not getting the best prices. I recently asked the chief executive of the IDA if he could help the Irish taxpayer to get a better price for products in respect of IDA client companies in Ireland. He refused point blank to do so. The IDA has refused to engage with the Department of Health and the HSE on the matter. This behaviour is unacceptable. All government employees must work together for the good of the Irish taxpayer. I believe that Department of Health and the HSE have failed and do not have the ability to achieve these savings. The task of procuring drugs and other prescribed items should be taken from them and handed to the Government Procurement Service in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

With regard to the health figures mentioned today, I wish to highlight some of the items in the booklet circulated by the Minister. We talk about medical cards but I will put on the record the cuts that are taking place. The Minister says he is reducing the income thresholds for the over-70s to €900 per week for a couple and €500 per week for a single person. That will save €25 million, according to the Minister's figures. The medical card probity examination will save €113 million. Effectively, everybody with a medical card had better be aware that, from tonight, the Minister intends to hunt them down and cancel as many of those cards as possible. The single biggest saving in the Department of Health is to cancel existing medical cards. The Minister has identified a saving of €113 million in respect of current medical cards by ensuring they are cancelled in 2014.

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