Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

Health seems to be the focus today. Many Members received literature about the national treatment purchase fund. Those of us with constituents who wished to undergo surgical procedures discovered that it was possible to have them carried out in Northern Ireland and the UK provided that certain criteria were complied with. It is difficult for people to accept what is happening when 250 beds in Dublin hospitals are to close and it is projected that 14,000 procedures will be postponed as a result. How can one explain to the electorate what is happening with the health system here when procedures can be carried out in the United Kingdom? It is timely, therefore, to invite the Minister to come before the House. Most people request a debate in the presence of the Minister, but it is about time we provided for a question and answer session with him. It would be far more enriching to put the pertinent questions to the Minister and invite his direct response, rather than having a large number of Members expressing their opinions in speeches.

This matter was brought home to me forcefully when I was in Dublin on Sunday. While I am not completely aware of the state of the health service in Dublin, a taxi driver remarked to me that one of his parents was on a trolley in hospital for six days. The driver told me that he lives in Cabra and that when the Taoiseach came knocking at his door he told him about the problem. He stated that the Taoiseach only realised the full extent of the problem when something happened to a person in his family.