Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

People like that are still around shooting the breeze in the same old way as they did before, behaving as if there was nothing wrong, looking around and saying what they would do. It is called sticking-plaster politics. You add a little bit here, a little water here, a bit of steam, a little bit of hot air over here now and again and all of a sudden everything is rosy in the garden again. This is about a serious issue, the delivery of health services, the most fundamental issue the people of the country expect. They expect to be able to rely on a reliable health service in every aspect and area throughout the country where delivery is required on a 24-7 basis. They will do it provided the structure is right. It can be done. While we prevaricate, hang around and make political capital out of every opportunity, as in the past, it will not happen.

I hope this legislation will do the job for the people of this country and recognise, in so doing, the importance of a reliable, cost-effective, efficient and readily available health service, which is a basic thing. When I was a young lad, which was neither today nor yesterday, in the 1950s, the late Dr. Noël Brown was pursuing his health campaign on tuberculosis. I remember how the people looked with hope to what was going to happen, and it did happen. It took a long time to change people's thinking and habits and to address the issue, but the issue was addressed and the services were put in place to deal with it, thankfully. All that was needed at the time was a concentration on the requirement, not the rhetoric, and it was done.

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