Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very proud to be a member of Fine Gael. In my engagement in the House, I always try to not be partisan because I am conscious that many different people from all parties have stood in this position as Minister for Health over the past number of decades - not yet from Deputy Kenny's grouping but that may happen - and have faced similar challenges to those that I face this January and February. I can engage in political partisan talk, and I am well able to do so, but it will not serve the substantive issue.

Health services in Ireland, the UK and Northern Ireland, as well as many other countries, have faced significant pressures during the winter period. We need to have a discussion on what we will do to make sure that we do not see the same challenges next winter and subsequent winters. I am convinced that if we keep doing the same things, namely, increasing the level of funding and the Minister of the day announcing more budgets, we will not break the cycle. Solving this problem will involve doing something different.

That is why I am a great believer in the work of the Oireachtas committee to come up with a ten-year strategy that removes party politics from the issue and provides a level of certainty. That is why we need a bed capacity review. How many beds do we need? We have not built a new hospital in this country since 1998. If I told the Deputy that we have not built any new schools since 1998 he would not be surprised that there were not sufficient places for schoolchildren. We need to determine what to do differently in terms of bed capacity, recruitment and so on.

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