Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I will not engage in the historical debate with the Taoiseach. He has his view and I have mine, but historians have also outlined their view. It was not just Fianna Fáil but it was primarily Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael was also up to its eyes in giving the gaps to the church to fill in terms of health and education, and we live with that legacy. Let us remember Dr. Noel Browne and the struggle he engaged in to get free maternity care for women.

As the church exits, the Taoiseach asked what will replace it and that is a very good question. Will it be more privatisation of our healthcare system? The Taoiseach has said he is not in favour of that, yet we are building a national children’s hospital with private suites already allocated in it. We must move away from two-tier medicine. We need a national health service and I agree entirely with the great socialist, Deputy Alan Kelly, who said the Taoiseach should nationalise the entire St. Vincent’s complex. I would go further, as a radical socialist, and suggest that we nationalise the entire health service. That is what is required and, ultimately, that is where we are headed. What we need to deal with now is the question of who owns the new national maternity hospital.

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