Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I begin by complimenting Deputy Kelleher for tabling this motion. Health is an issue that needs to be kept centre-stage at all times. At this stage in the electoral cycle it is vital that health is seen to be a number one priority for us. That said, over the years, I have observed that the adversarial politics we practise in this country has been very bad for public health. The sort of tit-for-tat, Jack and Jill kind of politics we practise has not delivered for the public the sort of public health service the public is entitled to.

I was very interested earlier, in the debate on the motion of confidence in the Government, where one Minister came in to say that we should not be talking about the Fennelly report but rather about jobs, health and so on.

What was noteworthy in the contributions made by the Government side in that debate was the emphasis placed on what was happening in the economy, the sense of hope coming from the Government side that the economy is on the upturn and, I suppose, that sense of hope that the upturn, which is very much a regionalised upturn at present, may spread across the country in time. What was also noticeable was an equal lack of hope in terms of the necessary improvements in the area of health care. That is one of the greatest difficulties we have in this country. One of the greatest challenges for personnel working in the health services is that sense of despair, that sense that matters are not being seen to get any better and there is no great sense that anybody anywhere has a vision that will deliver the necessary reforms and improvements.

Deputy Kelleher referred, quite correctly, to budgeting. The Minister's predecessor, I must say, was scathing over a period of years in his condemnation of his predecessor, Ms Harney. I had the privilege of chairing the Joint Committee on Health and Children in previous years, and never did that man lose an opportunity to excoriate Ms Harney during her tenure. I never was a great admirer of the Progressive Democrats, but certainly, in my view, she was a fairly competent Minister for Health and Children. Deputy Reilly did not exactly impress anybody during his tenure, and Deputy Varadkar came in then as the great new hope. We wish Deputy Varadkar well. While his predecessor's budgets were clearly bogus, Deputy Varadkar's are not bogus, but they are certainly not adequate. As Deputy Kelleher has said, the Minister will have the support of everyone in this House when, on behalf of the Department of Health, he fights with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for an additional slice of the cake, because that is something that must be delivered.

The waiting list situation is quite scandalous. The Minister's actions in extending the waiting period beyond what is regarded as best international practice is nothing more than a form of chicanery. In my local hospital in Naas, the outpatient waiting list has increased by 85% and the inpatient waiting list has increased by 122%. In County Kildare, we depend heavily, as Deputy Durkan will be aware, on Tallaght hospital. In Tallaght, there are 5,267 adults and 1,357 children waiting for outpatient attention and there are 3,000 adults and 479 children waiting for inpatient attention. That is not an acceptable situation.

I commend the Minister on the fact that he intends to open 300 additional beds, but unless he is in a position to put the staff in place to service those beds, the beds will not be brought on stream in anything like the time that is required to meet public demand. I do not see anything happening in terms of how the HSE conducts its business of staff recruitment. The system of staff recruitment is antediluvian. It does not serve the public need. It is not fit for purpose and it needs to be radically changed. If we are to achieve anything in this debate tonight, I hope it will be to impress on the Minister the need to effect radical change, not only in how the HSE implements its staff recruitment policy but in how it retains staff. It has always struck me as particularly peculiar - I was a member of the old Eastern Health Board, as was Deputy Durkan - that we operate a system in the nursing profession in this country in which it is extremely difficult for applicants to gain access to university - previously training hospitals - and those who failed to gain access here for the most part went to Britain to qualify. When applicants qualified in Britain, we went over to Britain and tried to bring them back, having refused them access to training opportunities here.

There are a multiplicity of areas in which we need to see reform. I believe the Minister has the ability to effect that reform, but we have not seen much of it happening to date.

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