Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

The health debate, as I proposed earlier, is being extended until 3 p.m. The sos will follow, after which we will resume with the Arts Bill. We tried to get the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, to come before the House, but he is standing in for the Minister in the Lower House this afternoon.

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Tim O'Malley. I acknowledge the presence of the Minister, Deputy Martin, earlier in the debate. I understand that the Minister of State, Deputy Callely, will be present between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.

I congratulate the Minister, his colleagues and his team of civil servants on the production of these two fine reports. There is no doubt that the patient is at the core of both these reports as, I assume, they will be at the core of the Hanly report when we receive it.

I was particularly struck by something I read at the weekend in regard to health spending. How could anyone say that there should not be reform when the entire income tax take for 2003 will go towards gross health expenditure? In other words, if we receive €9 billion in income tax receipts, a corresponding amount will be spent on the health service. That is a huge factor to consider and such an approach is unsustainable. It would not be possible to just keep pouring money into health without seeing any benefit to patients. While we welcome their publication, these reports are long overdue.

There have been those who highlighted the fact that a number of accountants were on the teams that drew up the reports. What is wrong with accountants? They know how to count money.

The patient comes first in the reports, which seek to reorganise the structures of the health service in such a way that the patient will benefit. That makes sense and I have no doubt that we will all, ultimately, benefit from this. I acknowledge that it will be difficult. Problems are inevitable when one is trying to bring about the kind of monumental change that is envisaged here. Senator Glynn referred to the fact that the existing system has been in place for almost 33 years and, as Senator O'Meara said, there is bound to be blood on the carpet. There is no doubt that there will be blood all over Ireland as this change works its way through.