Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Question 1: To ask the Taoiseach if he has any advisors or consultants on health within his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27361/11]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 2: To ask the Taoiseach the number of special advisors he has appointed since his election as Taoiseach; and the salary paid to each advisor. [28190/11]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 3: To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide a breakdown of the individual responsibilities of the special advisors employed in his Department. [28191/11]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 4: To ask the Taoiseach the advisors on health he has within his Department. [28545/11]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 5: To ask the Taoiseach if he has put in place in his Department any expertise in relation to health policy. [31045/11]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions No. 1 to 5, inclusive, together.

There are five special advisers in my Department, four of whom are special advisers to me and one of whom is special adviser to the Government Chief Whip. I do not have a dedicated adviser-consultant on health in my Department. A specialist adviser on health was appointed to the Minister for Health and Children of the previous Government but was based in the Department of the Taoiseach and his salary was paid from that Vote.

The primary function of special advisers is to help achieve the Government's objectives and secure implementation of the programme for Government. Under the supervision of my chief of staff, the special advisers working in my Department provide briefings and advice on a wide range of policy matters as well as performing such other functions as I may direct from time to time. They also liaise with other special advisers in other Departments so that I remain informed on developments across Government.

I am circulating in the Official Report a table showing the salary of each special adviser. The total salary cost of the five special advisers is approximately €576,000, which is 47% less than the €l.l million total salary cost of the seven special advisers appointed to the Department of the Taoiseach by the previous Administration.

The names and salaries of the special advisers appointed in the Department of the Taoiseach since 9 March 2011 are contained in the following table.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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My question is specific to the issue of health. Today, 344 people are on hospital trolleys throughout the country. Communities from Roscommon to west Cork to Blanchardstown to Loughlinstown to Tipperary to Galway are outraged because the Government's health policy is in tatters. We have lost 1,000 nurses in the past two years and 6,000 health workers. The number of bed closures climbed to 2,317 in the past few weeks. It is a disaster. Our health service is being massacred. The Taoiseach's Government promised the most ambitious reform programme ever in health care and that there would be no closures of accident and emergency services unless better, and what were seen to be better, services were put in their place.

The Taoiseach needs some advice about what is going on in our health service because lives are at stake. Communities are terrified by the dismantling of their local health, accident and emergency and ambulance services. People have come from Bantry today to protest outside the House about what is happening in west Cork. Who is advising the Taoiseach or is he taking any specific advice on how we will deal with the catastrophe in our accident and emergency and health services throughout the country?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy's question was specific. He asked if I had any advisers or consultants on health within my Department and if I would make a statement on the matter. I have made a statement on the matter. I have no specific special advisers or consultants in my Department dealing with health. I chair the Cabinet sub-committee on health, which is due to meet again shortly. It will meet every month for the next six months and then review the position. In the past, the Cabinet sub-committee met once every quarter.

I would point out, however, that in a number of hospitals where there was a consistently high and unfortunate number of trolleys over the past years. This has been seriously reduced because of increased competence being put into manage the hospitals. The Minister for Health, who is my chief adviser on health matters, has put together a package for new competency measures to be put in place in respect of the Mid-Western Regional Hospital and University Hospital Galway where, as the Deputy knows, there have been serious overruns in the past.

There is not a simple answer. It takes some time to change that structure but that is where the focus and priority of the Minister lies. We will keep the Deputy updated as decisions are made on this.

The Deputy will also be aware of the special delivery unit which the Minister set up to analyse why these backlogs occur in hospitals in the first place, whether it is due to a virus, a winter vomiting bug, holiday arrangements for cover and so on. These are all areas which have been set out in the programme for Government. The Minister has been clear that we want the very best facilities for, and the very best attention given, to patients in the first instance and facilities to be made available to people working on the frontline to service that. As the Deputy pointed out on a number of occasions in the past, we cannot stand over a situation where independent medical advice indicated that in some cases, safety requirements are not up to standard.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I have three questions. Ba mhaith liom cúpla bomaite a ghlacadh orthu.

The Taoiseach said he had no health advisers, and it shows. I refer to this notion that it is a winter vomiting bug and so on. It is not winter yet. It is a lack of capacity and a deliberate running down of the public element of our health service.

I was in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda this morning. The Taoiseach may know that last week, a patient who had been on a trolley for five days was found to have TB. Other patients are now being screened for this dangerous disease.

I understand the Cabinet sub-committee on health has met only once and did not meet over the summer. My question on this issue is - with the Ceann Comhairle's permission, I would like to come back in on the other questions - does the Taoiseach accept that overcrowding in our hospitals is dangerous to staff and patients alike? Is there not a need for an urgent response from the Government?

I was in Blanchardstown hospital on Saturday with an Teachta Mary Lou McDonald, an Teachta Richard Boyd Barrett and others. Funding for that hospital has been cut by 20%. Should the Government not put in the extra resources which the health service and the public element of our health service require?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I remind Deputies that this is Question Time. If they could avoid statements, it would be helpful in order to get through the questions.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I could not but agree with the statement that overcrowding in hospital wards is not a good situation.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I did not say it was not a good situation. I said it was a dangerous situation

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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As I said, I do not agree it is a good situation, and nobody would. The question was if we are in a position to deliver the best quality health service for the patients who get into the system with the facilities for those who provide that attention. This needs to be done in a streamlined manner so that we do not have this backup and the situation we have had over the years where there are all these trolleys in hospitals. Everybody here has visited hospitals on numerous occasions.

The Deputy mentioned Blanchardstown hospital. There has been enormous public investment in state-of-the-art facilities there. The hospital is central to the delivery of a quality health service. The Minister for Health and his colleagues have been there in the recent past. I do not have the details before me in respect of what is happening at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital today but I am sure if the Deputy raises this as a Topical Issue matter, the Ceann Comhairle might consider it in due course.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I know precisely what is happening in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. As I said, I was there this morning.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I think I selected Deputy Adams for a Topical Issue today.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I really pleased with that. Go raibh míla maith agat. Is tusa an Cheann Comhairle is fearr sa domhain. Coming back to this issue, one of the anomalies in this State is that the hospital in Blanchardstown is called Connolly Hospital. James Connolly would turn in his grave if he saw the way our patients are being treated. That hospital does not even have an MRI scanner.

In regard to the five point plan, I agree with the sentiment that patients should have full access to proper health care but patients are not getting it. It is unacceptable that so many citizens are on hospital floors, on hospital trolleys and on chairs in hospital corridors.

The Taoiseach has not answered the following question, which has been raised a number of times. My friend, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, has also raised it. There are a number of special advisers in the Taoiseach's Department earning a salary of €168,000 which is almost five times the average industrial wage. I believe the Taoiseach is a decent man but I do not know how he can square that. There are 500,000 people on the dole and 150,000 young people have emigrated but the Taoiseach's Department is in clear breach of the guidelines set down by the Department of Finance. Is that social solidarity? Did the Taoiseach request that the salary cap be breached for these individuals?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I want to assure Deputy Adams that this Government is focused on providing the best level of service that we can for patients and the best level of facilities for people who work in the health service. One of the most modern endoscopy units in the country is in Connolly Hospital.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Deputy Adams was not there.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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James Connolly would, I am quite sure, be delighted to know about that unit. The further expansion of the MRI facilities will come. The Deputy understands - he does not live in fantasy land either - that we do not have an endless, bottomless pit of money to provide all of these things now.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Except for the bankers.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Remember this - we would not be in this situation but for bankers and the carry on of an incompetent Government. Be that as it may-----

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Is that a confession?

Derek Keating (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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We have nothing to confess.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----Sinn Féin's Ministers in Northern Ireland do not appear to have any difficulty with imposing serious austerity in health and other areas right across the board.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Deputy Adams should examine his party's record.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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He talks about two different Irelands. We actually have two different Irelands. Sinn Féin is an all-island party, but it has a different view up North from the one it has down here. It does not seem to have any difficulty in agreeing to pretty serious cutbacks in Northern Ireland, but it hums and haws about everything that happens down here when the Government is in a bailout situation, we are not in control of our economic destiny and we must cut our cloth according to our measure.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is lame. The Taoiseach needs to try a bit harder.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Sinn Féin Deputies do not like the truth.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Adams talks about decisions in respect of advisers. I am not at all happy - how could I be? - about the numbers who are unemployed. That is why, through the Departments of Social Protection, Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Finance, we want to put a real emphasis on job opportunities, getting people off the dole and providing up-skilling and retraining opportunities for them so that they can understand and appreciate the dignity of being able to go to work and contribute to their local economies, country and their own well being.

On the one hand, we must deal with the requirements of the memorandum of understanding to get down to 8.6%. In dealing with that challenge, we will put whatever resources we have into providing some sense of confidence in our indigenous economy - small businesses and medium-sized enterprises - to give people opportunities to get off the dole.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach is not answering the question.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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In 2009, the cost of seven advisers in the Department of the Taoiseach was €1.085 million. It is now €576,000. Call them what one wills, in my Department there are three of the people in question at the lowest level of the public service scale that applies to them.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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They are in breach of the Department of Finance's stipulations.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Two of the others are in excess of that level. This reflects the positions they held previously when they worked within the Fine Gael Party. As I pointed out to the Deputy last week, one of the persons working for a Minister was on a private sector salary of €200,000 and is now on a salary of €129,000 or €130,000 in respect of his or her public duties.

It is important that, when people cover a range of Departments and governmental issues, the Minister of the day has at his or her access people of competence who can inform him or her accurately as to what the situation actually is. The cost is very much reduced from what it was.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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It is still in breach of the Department of Finance's guidelines.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In Question No. 5, I asked the Taoiseach whether he had put in place in his Department rather than just in his office any expertise on health policy. I find it incredible that the answer is "No". Given that the Department of the Taoiseach through the Taoiseach chairs the Cabinet sub-committee on health, it is unacceptable that there is no health expertise within the broader Department to inform the Taoiseach's work as chair of that sub-committee and to bring certain perspectives to its work.

The Taoiseach's fundamental difficulty is that he made commitments on health that could not be realised. In recent months, he has broken hospital after hospital. Roscommon is the classic example, but there are examples in Sligo, the orthopaedic hospital in Mallow and the many others in respect of which he made cast iron guarantees through letters and commitments in advance of the election. He has needed to resile from all of them.

At the macro level in terms of the advice and expertise required, the programme for Government contains two fundamental commitments. First, the move to a not-for-profit trust with insurers for every local hospital. This would be a retrograde step. Insurers would deal with hospitals directly to control costs. The Taoiseach mentioned Ennis and Galway. I understand that tenders have been sought for private outside contractors to manage those hospitals. He needs to spell this situation out further. We need a more comprehensive debate, as it is a specific change.

Second, a pathway to universal hospital care insurance was committed to in the programme. I note the word "pathway" has been introduced for the first time. It was never used prior to the election.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Could we have a question, please?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is a comprehensive and complex issue. The new wording suggests the Government is resiling from its commitment in terms of the timeline and a genuine commitment to the proposal's implementation. It suggests that the Department requires some level of expertise on health to enable the Taoiseach to chair the health sub-committee and to allow these issues to be discussed, if that is his desire.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I can deal with that for the Deputy. Obviously, the special advisers who formerly worked for the party and are now in the Department of the Taoiseach are well able to cover a range of sectors. The economic adviser is up to date with every element of every Department and its budget.

I chair the Cabinet committee on health. It is going to meet next on 10 November. It includes the Tánaiste, the Ministers for Public Expenditure and Reform and Children and Youth Affairs and the Ministers of State with responsibility for primary care and disability, equality, mental health and older people. The chairman and CEO of the HSE also attend, as do senior officials from the relevant Departments. Rather than having an extra bill placed on the public sector and taking in someone to the Department of the Taoiseach, as applied on the last occasion, I deal directly with my own special advisers but also with the Cabinet sub-committee on health. For years, that committee met once per quarter. I was not happy about that and I have informed it that we will meet once per month for the next six months.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It has only met once in the past seven months.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Yes, but the next meeting is on 10 November. To be fair, I accepted the suggestions that came from Deputies about the necessity for a committee on health. I have an interaction with the Minister for Health and his two Ministers of State, who have specific responsibilities, on a regular basis. I do not need to ask for another special adviser to be put into the Department of the Taoiseach to cover health-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I did not say "special adviser".

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----when we have access to the people who run it directly. I do not have consultants on health in the Department of the Taoiseach. I do not have a special adviser on health in the Department of the Taoiseach. The people who are there are well able to get the information I need at any time. We discuss all of these matters at the committee on health and will again on 10 November.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to ask a brief supplementary question.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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On a point of order-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are moving on to Question No. 6 in the name of Deputy Boyd Barrett.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I wanted to ask a supplementary question. I did not get a chance.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We have spent 20 minutes on this issue.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I want to ask a supplementary question.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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On a point of order, are we not allowed to ask supplementary questions?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am entitled to a supplementary question.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy Boyd Barrett asked his supplementary question.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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On a point of order-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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There is no point of order.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Am I entitled to ask-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I did not get a supplementary.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Will Deputy Boyd Barrett resume his seat, please? I have called Question No. 6.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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But I did not get to ask a supplementary question.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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On a point of order-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Will Deputy Boyd Barrett resume his seat, please?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is normal practice that I get a supplementary.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy asked a simple question of the Taoiseach as to whether he had advisers or consultants on health within his Department. He has answered the question. Will the Taoiseach move on, please?

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The answer is "No".

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am entitled to ask a supplementary.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is not ice cream.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Will the Deputy please resume his seat? This is Question Time. It is not a debate on health.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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On a point of order-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We do not want a debate, but we are entitled to ask supplementary questions under Standing Orders.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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We are wasting time.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I would like to ask a supplementary question on-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Does Deputy Boyd Barrett want his next question answered?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I just want to know whether I am entitled to ask a supplementary question.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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No, the Deputy is not allowed to ask a supplementary question-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Why not?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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-----if it has been answered. Will the Taoiseach please move on?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Taoiseach was completely silent.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I would like an opportunity to return to this issue at a later stage.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am entitled to ask a supplementary question.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Members are entitled to ask supplementary questions.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Am I not entitled to a supplementary?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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No, you are not.