Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, and I support Deputy Heydon in that regard. I am aware of the very good work of KARE in the Deputy's constituency and in mine, and the very good work of so many voluntary organisations across the country which are an integral part of the health service. We could not do without them. They were providing services long before the State bothered to do so. My Department did not exist until the 1940s. We had a State without a Department of Health because we were reliant on the voluntary sector and the church. In addition, some of the largest hospitals in this country are also voluntary. I respect the role of voluntary hospitals. Many countries have them, but they must modernise, be more transparent and open and they must provide a seat at the table for public policymakers and representatives of the State.

In the excellent report we are discussing, Ms Catherine Day made some good recommendations about having a public interest director or whatever we wish to call him or her. We can and must respect the voluntary ethos, which I very much do, and the good work that is being done, but there is only one forum that sets public sector policy and health policy and no ethos should prevent people from accessing healthcare. That is the type of discussion we need to start having with the sector in terms of how we can help by providing certainty of funding and multi-annual funding and how they can help us by making sure we can implement public policy.

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