Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this Private Members' debate. Unlike some Deputies on the other side of the House, I have consistently spoken on health matters during my time in this House, as I did when I was in the Seanad. I am glad that my party's health spokesman, Deputy Kelleher, has given us an opportunity to discuss this issue as part of the business of the House. Deputy O'Donovan and others have failed to recognise that those of us who were elected for Fianna Fáil - there might be fewer of us than we might like - have a mandate to raise issues of national importance. There is a legitimacy to the existence of the Opposition. It is not all about doing the political thing by saying "they are all bad and we are all good". Notwithstanding where we have come from, I think we are in a position to contribute to debates of this nature by virtue of our understanding of the issue and the interaction we have with our constituents.

I am certainly not here to knock the ambulance service or say that it is all wrong. I am sure the same thing applies to Deputy Kelleher - he will speak for himself - and to other Deputies. The ambulance service does an exceptionally good job. It delivers very well for many people most of the time. If we have learned anything from recent history, particularly in relation to the way our economy was run, it is that we should not be afraid to look beneath the bonnet, question the norms that have existed heretofore or challenge the current thinking. We must be able to engage in a critical and dispassionate analysis of the issues in the best interests of the people who put us here and who we are here to represent. We should be able to do that in a collective way. I appreciate that the business of the House requires Opposition parties to use Private Members' time to propose motions. I accept that the Government will usually try to amend those motions and win the vote at the end of the debate. We all know that is what ultimately happens. Everybody has a capacity to bring forward ideas and identify problems in a way that improves services in the long run.

There have been significant advances in the quality of the vehicles used by the ambulance service. The move towards single ambulances that carry just one patient has required an increase in the number of ambulances. There was a time when an ambulance was little better than a meat truck. We have moved beyond the era when injured people were thrown in, piled up and taken to the closest hospital. The quality of the service is much better now. We now have a high-quality air ambulance service. Without seeking to applaud previous Governments, I should mention that many of these improvements were put in train under the reconfiguration process that was initiated by Mary Harney when she was Minister for Health and Children. There are some people who are taking credit today for what has been achieved without referring to when these things happened. It is understandable that there might be some confusion as there were many changes in health service delivery during that time.

As well as being critical of us, Deputy O'Donovan complimented the great service in Limerick. While I agree to some extent with what he said, he failed to recognise that the manager of the ambulance service participated in a recent "Prime Time" programme that was very critical of the service. She was identified as a whistleblower. One cannot have it both ways. We must look to the people who have identified the weaknesses and the flaws.

We have had some progress in terms of the provision of advanced paramedics, which certainly has been effective. However, the whole reconfiguration process has put a greater burden on the ambulance service. It is a pity that Deputy Patrick O'Donovan clearly did not prepare for this debate and instead decided simply to come in and throw a few political balls about the place. He did himself a disservice in so doing because it showed a fundamental weakness in his understanding of the way in which the health service has changed. Reconfiguration was never about saving money. It was about improving the outcome for the patient and ensuring a greater level of patient safety. I supported the proposal, as did others who are now in opposition, against the bleating of the then Opposition, both Labour Party and Fine Gael Members, that patients would die. Deputy O'Donovan's colleagues in my county erected posters, developed a campaign and frightened people by claiming that reconfiguration of the health service would lead to the deaths of 20 people in Clare every year. I have challenged all of them on that claim but none has come forward with any sound statistics to back it up.

Of course, what they predicted has not come to pass. However, reconfiguration has put a greater burden on the hospital in Limerick, on accident and emergency services and on bed capacity. It also has imposed a greater burden on the ambulance service. The increased investment which took place when the reconfiguration was initiated was not enough and will not be enough to reach the targets set down by the Health Information and Quality Authority. It would be nice if colleagues on the Government benches who have the benefit of following in the wake of those of us who had to take the bullets to get reconfiguration through would at least accept their role in taking it to the next stage, which is building on the foundations that were created and continuing to roll out an enhanced ambulance service. That is the job in which the advanced paramedics and first responders are engaged. They provide a wonderful service, but there are not enough of them.

None of us here is blinded by delusions of there being some endless pot of money at the end of the rainbow. There is no expectation on this side of the House that the Government can simply click its fingers and deliver everything that is needed. There must, however, be a planned approach. If we saw a coherent plan coming forward from the Government or the Health Service Executive which showed a capacity to build towards acceptable norms as set down by HIQA over a defined period, everyone would accept we were on the right track. What we have instead, however, is some members of the Government parties, Fine Gael in particular, proclaiming at every opportunity that a little growth in the economy will allow the Government to offer tax breaks at the next budget. That is being done because we happen to be in an election environment.

In fairness to the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, and other members of her party, they have not engaged in that type of auction politics. The Minister of State knows full well, in the brief she holds, that there are very significant gaps in service delivery. Those gaps can be seen in the ambulance service, in elder care, and in services for people with disabilities and mental illness. The Minister of State is struggling to find the cash to do what she wants to do. In fairness to her, she has rightly indicated her view that if moneys become available as a result of an upturn in the economy, they should be used to fill those gaps. That is the correct approach, not a return to the auction politics of the past, at which, I acknowledge, my party was as good as Fine Gael is showing itself to be. I assure the House that we have learned our lesson, but from what I saw of the antics of the Deputy from Limerick tonight, who really should know better, I can have no confidence that the other party in government has taken that lesson on board. However, fair play to the Labour Party for challenging Fine Gael in its auction approach to politics. We saw it again today, with Members briefing journalists and then denying they had done so. It is all about courting popular opinion on the cusp of an election when all the opinion polls are showing that Fine Gael is taking almost as hard a battering as the Labour Party. At least the Minister of State's party has been upfront in accepting the responsibility that befell it upon coming to power.

I appeal to Fine Gael Members to approach this issue with an open mind. I ask that they at least be prepared to accept that while a great deal has been done, there remains a significant amount of work to do, and that when funds become available, as they will with the pick-up in the economy, those moneys should be used to improve and enhance services, including the ambulance service, in a manner that meets the needs of diversely populated rural areas and benefits all.

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