Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not dropping. I have been involved since I was Minister for Health. I want to be positive about this. We need others to participate in this. We need the Northern health authorities to participate in this. We had participated in this through investment and, likewise, the Northern Executive in the past agreed on a cardiac service for children and that there would be one national centre on the island because the volume of patients matters in services of that kind. I think we can do more in respect of health services across the Border and that is something I would like to expand even more. The community application of information technology, CAIT, initiative has been effective and I will engage with the Health Service Executive and the Minister for Health in that regard.

Sometimes, on the Executive side, there are different views and perspectives on this, as everybody knows. What is important is trust - that we build up trust with all traditions on the island that this is not some Trojan horse but that it just makes practical sense for the people in the region and that catchment area that they have quicker access to health services, particularly in regard to heart, cancer, paediatrics and so forth. That is the spirit within which I would like to proceed on that front.

I agree with Deputy Bacik. The trade unions have offered, as have the employer organisations, to work on the all-island aspect.

Through the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, that we have established, there is an agenda on shared island and a sub-committee of LEEF is dealing with the shared island issues. To be fair, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has been a cross-Border body for a long time and there has been strong engagement. We need to support that. We stand ready, through the shared island unit, to support practical initiatives across the trade union movement. If any issues come forward, we will respond to them. That point was made to me in the aftermath of the TASC debate last week when I met with people afterwards.

In terms of Deputy Boyd Barrett's question, we need to provide modern facilities for women in this country in the areas of maternity, gynaecology and so forth. Every day we lose in getting the national maternity hospital off the ground is a day lost in terms of quality care for women. In that context, the Government has worked with the HSE to improve on the outcome of the Mulvey negotiations at the time of the mediation during the previous Government. My understanding is the proposal will represent a very significant advancement, absolutely guaranteeing all procedures that are legally available in this State to women who would avail of services in a new hospital. We need to move on with it and there has to be a transfer of property and so on and State control.

In education, we have moved on with Educate Together a lot over the years. There is plurality of choice now for many parents. That will progress, evolve and improve. In healthcare, it has been more patchy but the health board hospitals are State owned and we have independent hospitals such as St. James's Hospital and Beaumont Hospital. The creation of the HSE created a more national framework for hospitals-----

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