Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am looking for Government time to have this issue debated and I am entitled to do so on the Order of Business because we are getting queries on the cases we submitted to the Minister and because of the significant distress being caused to families.

Page 5 of the programme for Government relates to health issues and outlines the pathway to universal health care and insurance. Universal health insurance was proposed by either Fine Gael or the Labour Party as far back as 2002 and perhaps even earlier, but there has never been a detailed blueprint for costings or how it will be implemented. Five years ago, before the general election, we were promised it, but it was never costed and no detail was provided on it. Now it seems we are about to be told it will take another five years for the Government to even contemplate implementing it. The programme for Government stated that in the first term of the Government a foundation would be laid for the introduction of universal health care insurance and that the legislative basis for it would be provided, that public hospitals would be given autonomy from the HSE and that the HSE's function of purchasing care for uninsured patients would be given to a hospital care purchase agency which would combine with the National Treatment Purchase Fund to purchase care for the uninsured during the transition period. That was just one of the key commitments made in the programme for Government in terms of the legislative underpinning of universal health insurance. Will the Taoiseach confirm that none of this will now happen during the lifetime of the Government and that there is no detailed blueprint for the implementation of universal hospital care insurance? I will not mention the many other promises made in this regard.

We have been promised a review of the fair deal scheme and the system for financing it. The scheme has been under chronic pressure in the past 12 to 18 months. When will the review be published and what are the Government's proposals in looking after older people and in terms of access and eligibility for the scheme?

When can we expect publication of the apprenticeship Bill which will outline new governance structures for new apprenticeships and introduce protection for apprentices and outline the responsibilities of employers?

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