James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording the opportunity to raise this important life-and-death issue, which relates to the need for the Minister for Health and Children to address the threat to the viability of Longford-Westmeath General Hospital and the midlands area caused by correspondence that was sent to personnel at the hospital yesterday. This correspondence states that all temporary contracts will be withdrawn on 27 April next and that no replacements will be provided for those on maternity or sick leave. I can only presume that a mistake has been made and that there will be no cutbacks to essential staffing levels at this hospital. I am seeking a guarantee in this regard, particularly as people's lives depend on the provision of adequate staffing cover.

The effect of this bombshell on the hard-working and extremely effective staff at the hospital has been immeasurable. This random reduction of services is no way to run the health system, neither is it a proper way to treat staff who work flat out, often in untenable circumstances, and who, for the sake of their patients, give over and above what is required of them in their contracts.

Patients and the staff to whom they have entrusted their care need the support of a reliable and trustworthy Department of Health and Children. The protests earlier today outside the gates of Leinster House by associations representing those who suffer with cystic fibrosis and autism and the Carers Association prove — if such proof were needed — that people are not receiving the support they require. These protests are merely a small representation of the anger and hurt people feel at the Government's betrayal.

What can the staff of Longford-Westmeath Regional Hospital expect for the future? Should they accept the termination of their contracts at the whim of the Minister for Health and Children? Does the Minister think it will console them to know that they are shouldering responsibility for the salaries of a huge number of managerial and administrative staff in the HSE whose positions should have been cut some months ago? These positions are surplus to need but the staff who occupy them remain in place while essential front-line staffed are being axed. Do these people believe the Minister has established a €27 million pension fund in respect not only of one but of all of them? The answer to these questions is no. The personnel to whom I refer are not surplus to need and have an essential role to play. The Minister for Health and Children has driven another nail into the coffin of patient care at Longford-Westmeath Regional Hospital. Those who die as a result of lack of essential medical personnel and care will be on her conscience.

This move to reduce staff is part of an ever-increasing pattern of health cutbacks being imposed on the sick, the elderly and the vulnerable. The Minister for Health and Children is being obliged to enforce these cutbacks in order to cover the financial mismanagement of her Department. The sick and chronically ill are bearing the brunt of the blunders which have been the hallmark of her tenure in the Department. Forgoing essential treatment and services is not an option the Minister would personally have to endure. What makes one human being different from another when it comes to accessing essential health services? I have asked in this House on a number of occasions the reason France, with a population of 64 million, has a fast, efficient health service while this country, with a mere 4.3 million, sees people dying due to cutbacks, sacrificed on the altar of Government inadequacy and criminal and moral neglect.

The Mullingar hospital is a valuable health facility for the midlands and is the only acute hospital between Dublin and Sligo. It was placed in the top three hospitals countrywide in the recently released HealthStat data. It has proved time and again that it is working to a very high standard, despite the Minister's failure to meet promises to complete phase 2B of the hospital's infrastructural development.

The hospital has also suffered from the removal of the cancer unit, which has left seriously ill patients forced to travel long distances to access services which had heretofore been more than adequately provided locally. However, it now faces not only being under-funded but understaffed, which is a major indictment of this Government's disregard for essential provision for the midlands. I expect assurances from the Minister of State that the correspondence received yesterday by all staff at Longford/Westmeath Regional Hospital was just another administrative error or, dare I say it, a sick April Fools' joke. Sanity must prevail. I ask the Minister of State to give me a guarantee this evening that nobody providing front line services at this very efficient hospital will be let go on 27 April.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney.

The Midland Regional Hospital at Mullingar forms part of the Dublin-Midlands Hospital Group and provides an extensive range of acute services to the population of Dublin and the midlands, in particular Longford-Westmeath. The issue raised does not relate specifically to Longford/Westmeath General Hospital and the midlands area. This is a national decision that applies equally across the public sector. The numbers employed in the health sector have grown since 2005. The recent exceptional deterioration in the economy and the public finances has necessitated the taking of emergency budgetary measures and means that a more strict approach to employment control in the medium term must be taken in the public sector generally and in the health sector.

The Government has decided that, with effect from 27 March 2009 to the end of 2010, no post in the public sector, however arising, may be filled by recruitment or promotion; nor may an allowance be paid for the performance of duties at a higher grade. The decision also applies to temporary appointments on a fixed-term basis and the renewal of such contracts. However, in the case of the health service the arrangements have been modulated to ensure that key services are maintained insofar as possible and that there will be flexibility in the filling of certain posts.

The Department of Health and Children wrote to the HSE on Monday of this week advising them of the Government decision. In the wider context, it is important to note that there is provision for filling full-time consultant and therapy posts, subject to the approval of the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Finance. The Government is committed to protecting the quality of services and this mechanism will be of assistance in that regard.