Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I neglected to do something yesterday. I sincerely thank the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health and the Government for last week listening to a plea that I started and others joined, asking the Government to approve the funding for the drug Zolgensma, to help two little children who are very ill, one of those children being Theo Whelan from County Kerry. It would be very wrong and very neglectful of me not to publicly thank most sincerely the Government for doing what it did in supporting and ensuring that the HSE is publicly funding the drug. I know it is a very expensive drug, but as I said at the time, who are we to put a price on a child's life? I will always fight my case for something and I must be fair and honourable in publicly thanking them. It has made a great difference to a little child in Cork and a little child in Kerry. It is giving them a fighting chance in this world and for that I am humbly grateful to the Government. I want to acknowledge that.

I made a number of points yesterday on the budget. Tonight, in our hospital in county Kerry we have no ICU, high dependency or general beds available in University Hospital Kerry. I know €250 million has been allocated to dealing with the waiting lists. However, no matter how much money might be thrown at health, we need to deal with the mismanagement of funds that is going on in the HSE. Unprecedented amounts of money are going towards health, but I want to see it starting from the ground up.

For instance, in the county I come from, I want the beds that are upstairs in Kenmare Community Hospital opened. We have a state-of-the-art hospital in Kenmare that the late Jackie Healy-Rae fought very hard to put there, but only half of it is open. I want the upstairs to open. I want more resources to be put into Cahersiveen. We want a new hospital in Killarney. We want improved services in Listowel in our community hospitals to help take the pressure off our general hospital.

We need to take such sensible approaches to help us ensure that we get better value for the money that is being spent on health. It is a very humble request to make, to fight to ensure that the HSE does its job properly. I want to see the HSE working in a proper way, like the old Southern Health Board used to work with a good mix of politicians from all parties and none working along with the consultants who would be sitting on the boards. They should be there like we were before. It worked well in the past. Many politicians from all sides were excellent representatives on the old Southern Health Board. They got better value for money than we are getting now. I ask the Government to take that on board and I thank the Acting Chairman for her indulgence.

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