Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Then, the final bill showed the plan was unaffordable. Another four years were lost.

There needs to be political agreement on the way forward, starting with the funding model. This can be achieved through an effective cross-party health committee. We need to set out clear objectives as to what we want to achieve through our health service. There is a need to take advice and to be clear about the costings involved. There is a need to listen to experts and front-line staff. Most importantly, there is a need to ignore the many vested interests which have for so long held back Ireland’s health service. Too often, our health service policy has been dictated by some of those powerful vested interests in the health service, such as the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, the private hospital system and private medical interests, meaning that very often the needs of the patient have come last.

We need to take a new approach to devising health policy. If a Government is formed in the coming weeks, we will have an opportunity to take that new approach, to work in a genuine all-party way, to use the evidence available to us, to take expert advice and start putting the patient first when it comes to designing a new kind of health service. We should not shirk that responsibility but use it as a real opportunity to do something meaningful and worthwhile to achieve, once and for all, the kind of health service our people deserve.

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