Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Every day brings a new revelation about the health services and the scandal of top-ups to senior executives continues to escalate. Hardly a week goes by without some revelation of how corruption and the culture which underpins it has contaminated many sectors of this State. I do not make this charge against the Government, although it has a duty to bring about the necessary changes and reforms in this regard. The issue of top-ups is part of a wider problem arising from a culture embedded in this State of awarding the elite by punishing ordinary decent citizens. The State's saddling of citizens with private banking debt is a perfect example of this. So, too, is the Government's top-up of its special advisers' pay in breach of its own guidelines.

In this regard we need look no further back than yesterday when the HSE told families affected by narcolepsy that they would not get payments because they were suing the State. While the HSE director general has apologised for this, it is an informative insight into how the State works. Citizens were to be punished because they stood up for their rights. Children are kept in hospital because of a failure to provide them with home care packages. All the while, executives are allowed to top up their pay, often with charitable contributions.

Hearings by the Committee of Public Accounts into the CRC are important. It is vital that the former chief executive, Mr. Brian Conlan, and other personnel co-operate with the committee. Will the Taoiseach acknowledge that this problem is bigger than the CRC and that there is an onus on the Government to establish an inquiry into all independent and voluntary health agencies that are HSE funded? Citizens have the right to a full understanding of the scale and extent of this scandal. Will the Taoiseach accept that a full independent inquiry is now needed to get to the full facts of this scandal?

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