Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment those who brought forward the proposals in this motion. Former taoisigh, Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen, both told me the HSE would be disbanded. It has not been disbanded though it is a organisation that is totally unfit for the job it has to do. I respect the fact that, as the Minister said, every cent of the money had been paid back and that is right. There also should be interest and penalties because a contract is a two-way mechanism and there should be punishment for people who break a contract. The people on the PCRS work late and not a night goes by when I do not get an e-mail on medical cards. My colleague Deputy Harty, an excellent GP from west Clare, is far more eloquent on the health system and has a greater understanding of it than I. It is clear that chains of pharmacies pull the wool over the eyes of people administrating the scheme. The Minister complimented the people on the scheme for the work they do on a daily basis and I compliment them too. I blame management and senior oversight mechanisms. I blame management in the HSE, of which we now have 40% more in the HSE than we had in 2007. Management numbers are growing very strongly, even though we have had a recession and there were cutbacks which mean we have no front-line nurses or doctors.

All is not well in the HSE - in fact it is extremely unwell. If it was a patient, I would ask Dr. Harty to prescribe some very strong medicine but it is not a patient. It is an organisation that has outlived its uses and overgrown its capabilities when it comes to understanding ordinary human problems. All Members of this House, including the Minister, will have heard very sick people crying in their clinics over medical cards. They have stage 2, 3 or 4 cancer but must be terminally ill or have a diagnosis of palliative care and they go through pain and anguish as they try to get their medical cards. Other cases involve 99 year olds, 98 year olds, 80 year olds and 70 year olds who are €6 over the limit and face trauma and distress at the regimental treatment they get. In fairness to the staff, the system is just rigid but this group was able to pull the wool over people's eyes and engage in racketeering, just like smugglers in Northern Ireland. It is a crime in the same way but is anybody investigating the crime? Are gardaí being called in? Is a file being sent to the DPP? It has been paid back and thank you very much, but if ordinary people, who could not get their medicines or afford prescription charges, pilfered something from a chemist because they needed it they would be taken to court and gardaí would prosecute them. This is typical of the way Ireland has turned out in the year we celebrate 1916.

The big and powerful can do what they like. We have the insurance industry and we had the Goodman chain in the meat industry. We had to deal with what the banks did to the people. If people are big and powerful they can do what they like and the Minister will thank them for paying it back. The Minister did not thank them, of course, but thanked his officials for getting it paid back in full. However, it should be paid back with savage, punitive interest so that we could give out a few more medical cards because the volume of money is frightening.

I thank the Minister for visiting Tipperary recently and showing sensitivity and understanding to an institution there. A sister institution, the Aisling, states this evening that it will not be able to continue with the funding stream it has. This racket is going on while ordinary community pharmacists and GPs cannot continue or are being withdrawn and not renewed. They fight with GPs over the rural allowance and over whether it is to be €15,000 or €25,000. We have wonderful GPs and want to keep them but when this goes on at the level we have seen there is something rotten in the state of Denmark. There is something seriously rotten in the HSE that it can be so cavalier. I thank the whistleblower, the journalist and "RTE Investigates" for exposing this but how many more cases are there like this? I am sure there are more and I wonder if any brown envelopes are involved in the HSE. I am sure there are because this could not happen with proper oversight. I know many ordinary people who tender for different services but many of them have been discontinued, such as taxis and hackney services to bring people to their appointments in hospitals or who brought mental health patients from Clonmel to Kilkenny when they closed the institution. One Friday evening they were just discontinued. This was merciless and disgraceful treatment but I am sure these companies give many an official at the HSE a nice trip abroad and other sweeteners for what went on. There should be a criminal investigation into what went on so that the wool can be pulled off the eyes of senior managers in the HSE.

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