Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In recent years, the Cabinet sub-committee on health has played a damaging role in the health service. It has been confirmed many times that it is a forum through which members of Government have interfered with the HSE's annual plans in order to cover up pressures. What they have done is over-promise and under-deliver, evidence of which we saw in December last. On many occasions my colleague, Deputy Kelleher, Fianna Fáil Party spokesperson on health, raised the issue of overcrowding and the trolley crisis in our hospitals and the Government's plan to deal with those issues during the winter. On each occasion Deputy Kelleher raised that issue the response of the Minister for Health was that there was no cause for worry as the Government had extra money available to it and the winter initiative would solve all problems. What happened last December? We had the highest ever number of people trolleys on record.

I agree with the comments made earlier by Deputy Seán Barrett, who is a member of Government side of the House, that putting more money into a service with no accountability is not the answer. The reason there is no accountability is that at the top of the equation there is political interference in the HSE plan to keep people on board.

See this speech in context