Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the dying days of the last Fianna Fáil coalition, the country was facing a crisis that had significant political, economic and social consequences. Many effects of the crisis will be felt for generations. People will remember the convoy of Mercedes cars making their way towards Farmleigh. Each of the then Ministers had a few words to say, not realising that, in the eyes of the people watching, their behaviour indicated a Government that was arrogant and completely out of touch with the crisis they faced.

Many who were Members at the time in question will have met Commissioner Ollie Rehn. One of the messages the Commissioner took from his visit to Ireland was that the then Government, run by Fianna Fáil, had completely and utterly lost the trust of the Irish people. It was only a few short weeks later that Mr. Ajai Chopra crossed the road from the Merrion Hotel to the Department of Finance, putting an end to an era that was very sad for the people of Ireland.

There are many members of Fianna Fáil and other members of the Opposition who want to confine the period in question to history. It is not historic, however, because it lives with us every single day. There are far too many citizens in mortgage arrears and negative equity and those who will be making mortgage repayments with much-reduced incomes. The many people in question are in both the public and private sectors and are deeply unhappy with what has happened to them. Therefore, the fallout from the crisis is not historic, it is with us day in and day out.

There is also a State mortgage that has been heaped on all of us who are still working and our children. This State mortgage, which has been used to pay back the loans we took out to preserve our banks, is the equivalent each year of the universal social charge. This is another penal tax that was landed on the people and it is being used to pay back a loan that was essentially taken out to pay for the banking crisis - a loan heaped on the people by the previous Government. This is not historical. Everything to do with that State mortgage and our own mortgages has been as a consequence of some extremely bad planning by the previous Government.

Three years later we are in a better place. We no longer talk about being thrown out of the euro or becoming a default nation. People are backing and investing in Ireland, both from outside coming in through foreign direct investment, investing in the assets and structures of Ireland, and from within the country with people starting to invest again in the confidence that there is a future for themselves and their families in this country.

We will never forget the sacrifices made by all citizens of this country. Their sacrifice has been as great as that made by the citizens 100 years ago when the country gained its independence. We must now acknowledge that the economy has stabilised to a degree.

Some remarks were particularly insulting, including Deputy Ó Cuív's claim that no new jobs had been formed in this country. That is deeply insulting to the 68,000 who have come off the unemployment register and are now working. They are contributing to society and to their families. These are real figures and these are real jobs. Deputy Ó Cuív was wrong to make such a statement in the House.

Anybody who reads anything about economics and economic recovery will know that a country needs to stabilise its economy before seeing significant reductions in unemployment. One of the great achievements of the past three years is that we have not just stabilised our economy and are coming out of the crisis and starting on the road to recovery, but in tandem we have also reduced unemployment, which does not usually happen. That shows the importance of the Government putting a clear focus on jobs when it was restabilising the economy and getting things right.

There is a continuing need to focus on other social aspects as part of the recovery. We have got the economy right and done much of the heavy lifting in order to stabilise our taxes and expenditure. It is now time to focus on the social aspect of our society and economy. Many people have spoken about the current housing crisis, a very serious issue that must be dealt with.

We need to invest in education because the strength of our educational systems in the past got us out of many of the previous recessions that have struck the country. I am particularly concerned that for the first time no Irish third level institution is ranked in the top 100 universities in the world. University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin were traditionally in the top 100 and I believe that Trinity College Dublin only dropped out of the top 100 this year. It is important that we make the investment to have our universities back in the top 100, which is incredibly important for our international reputation. We have always had a strong reputation for our doctors, engineers, postgraduates and PhD students. It is important that we retake the high ground in regard to the status of our universities and do so quickly.

Another incredibly important social service, which will come into focus considerably more now that we are working our way out of the economic crisis, is the health services. The health services continue to need more reform - the job has not been done there. Universal health insurance is not an option at present because so much needs to happen beforehand to improve the effectiveness of our health services and to improve the delivery of health care. The new hospital groups must reorganise much faster than is happening. There must be a change in how we deliver services and it must come much quicker.

There is a non-consultant hospital doctor and a consultant crisis in our hospitals at the moment. This crisis is more acute when we consider hospitals outside the major urban areas, but it is a crisis that is coming to the hospitals in our major urban areas. It is a crisis that has developed over the past two decades and needs particular focus. We do not need to leave it get to the point where the recovery could take as long as it has taken for us to end up in this situation in our health services.

The current GP contract has created major controversy. As a GP, I have an interest in what is happening and I understand it quite well. I find some of the sections far too vague at the moment to be accepted and taken seriously. Some sections interfere with the normal doctor-patient relationship and will need to be significantly renegotiated. Many GPs have found some the language to be deeply offensive to people who provide an excellent service.

I am glad that the Minister of State, Deputy White, has committed to a speedy negotiation of the contract because primary care is working very well at the moment. However, we need a new structure for the new century. We need to move away from the acute illness based structure of our primary care services and to look at the chronic care management programmes that are far more important. Many GPs are already doing what we are trying to get from the new GP contract, but it is not part of their contract and we must formalise these structures better. That is where the focus of the negotiations should be because it is about protecting patients in the 21st century.

I would like to see the development of a patient safety authority. We have had a number of crises and seen how patients are treated. Many improvements in how services are delivered have been made in recent years. HIQA has improved standards. The Medical Council is working efficiently in introducing competence assurance programmes for doctors. The Government has done much to protect many of the institutions of the State as we have gone through this crisis. In order to protect patients we need a proper patient safety authority with real power, along the lines of the Mental Health Commission. Patients who suffer mental illness are far better protected in the health services than patients who suffer from other illnesses or have other concerns to raise.

We must commend the Government on the extraordinary work it has done in the past three years. We must commend the people on what they have achieved despite the sacrifices they have made. We should be grateful we have such strong institutions in the State, including our schools, Civil Service, Garda and Army. People respect what they do and they respect being Irish people and being members of the Irish nation. I am glad we are now back to being responsible for our destiny.

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