Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann, noting with alarm the deteriorating condition of the health services and the failure even to make proper provision for the Government's own health strategy, condemns

(1) the failure of the Government to provide appropriate additional funding to hospitals affected by the winter vomiting virus,

(2) the decision to increase both accident and emergency and drugs refund charges,

(3) the failure to give any real commitment to extend the BreastCheck service to the entire country and

(4) the omission from the programme for Government of the election commitment to end hospital waiting lists in two years.

When the general election was called everybody agreed the health services would probably be the single most important issue in the campaign. This was not my view. The single most important social issue in our society is housing, the lack of which will ultimately do more harm to more people than even our abysmal health service. However, in terms of popular perception and its impact on society, health is the most immediate concern. The health service, therefore, became the most important issue during the campaign.

Coming into the election, the Government was happy to boast about the sums of money it had spent on the health service. Those of us who live in Cork are well aware that the Minster for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, has a penchant for quoting large sums of money to the extent that one would think it was his only task as a Minister. I will turn to what Ministers should be doing in a moment. Perhaps the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, will have more constructive things to do and say than to quote large sums of money.