Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I indicated on Second Stage, I will not be opposing the passage of the Bill. I have to accept it in the context of the reality in the provision of healthcare and its funding. I am a strong opponent of private health insurance and I object to it on principle. At its core, it is immoral that people can buy access to healthcare on the basis of the strength of their income stream or net wealth, while others must languish in long waiting queues, many of them in agony and some with their lives in suspension, waiting for the opportunity to even have a first consultation, never mind access to a treatment programme.

The Minister has moved the Government's focus from the former Minister, Deputy James Reilly's and the Taoiseach's favoured model of a multi-tier system of private health insurance in the context of universal health insurance. The central plank of the Minister's party and the Government's policy position outlined in the programme for Government after the February 2011 general election has moved to the language of some Opposition voices who for many years have championed universal healthcare on the basis of need alone, irrespective of one's ability to pay or geographical location. That is where I hope the Minister will bring his party's thinking. Rather than parking this issue and commissioning further consideration, reviews and reports on a single health insurance model to fund universal healthcare, I hope he will come to accept that what we need is healthcare paid for by progressive taxation which will be available to all on the basis of need. That is the goal my party and I have and there are other voices in this House who mirror that objective.

It is very important in the last weeks of the Government for the Minister, as a medical practitioner and someone who I believe cannot be unaware of the inequities in the current system and how wrong it is to perpetuate a two-tier health system, to demonstrate favour to the idea and ideal of universal healthcare paid for through progressive taxation and available free at the point of delivery for all on the basis of need. It is achievable; it is not a pipe dream. It is an ambitious goal but one that can be achieved. We could present ourselves in a country with a small population on the western seaboard of Europe as having one of the foremost healthcare delivery systems anywhere in Europe and beyond. This is achievable with the good will not only of political voices but also of practitioners at every level within the healthcare system. I have noted in my engagement with consultants, doctors, nurses, midwives, therapists and a range of other healthcare professionals that there is nothing like the opposition some would suggest. The concept has found favour. We need it to be laid out in clear and understandable language in order that people can buy into the objective and ideal. I hope to be able to help progress this in the time ahead, but it cannot be done and will not be achieved from a single voice perspective. It will need the support of more and more voices across the political spectrum if it is to have any prospect of realisation. It is worthy of the Minister's best consideration and the consideration of all others who truly believe in equality and the right of every citizen to equal treatment to meet their healthcare needs and increase their life expectancy. I have no fervour for the basis of the propositions contained in the Bill, namely, the extension of the transfer from overnight inpatient care to inpatient services on a day care basis and all of the other allied elements of the legislation, but accepting the situation as it is, I will not oppose the Bill.

However, I will use this opportunity to again articulate the importance of looking at a completely new approach, one in which the overwhelming majority of the people would not only buy into but would view in the future with confidence while eliminating the need for so many to have private health insurance. For those who make that choice, they can have their private hospitals and private clinics but they can no longer piggyback on the public health system.

See this speech in context