Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

In today's post-Celtic tiger economy the state of an Irish family's health has become totally dependent on the size of its wealth. That is the biggest indictment of the Minister and his Government colleagues, although it is not all his fault as he is implementing Cabinet decisions. There has been a glorious ten years of economic boom but at the end of that decade of unprecedented opportunity the health service is no better than before.

When the Minister makes his case for the defence either inside or outside the House and when the Taoiseach speaks about the health service, we are given as the golden goal the fact that so much money is being spent and that investment has doubled and trebled. That case for the defence has become the case for the prosecution. The questions stemming directly from it are: what value for money is the taxpayer getting for the money spent and what level of service is being delivered?

I recall the political debates of the mid-1980s when the then Minister for Health, Mr. Barry Desmond, who was trying to bring about genuine reform of the health system, was politically attacked as the man who was bringing destruction to the system. We were promised a better way. One may remember the slogan, "There is a Better Way". However, since then, there has been no political leadership with regard to the health service. Money has been invested, as it should be, but we have not had value for money. Taxpayers are rightly demanding that any extra investment in services produces results. However, that extra investment, particularly in recent years, has not worked.