Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I, too, welcome the Minister of State. The Government is losing the run of itself in terms of this legislation. The Government has, over the past number of years, completely changed how local authorities perform and should take a closer look at what happened in that regard. The new systems introduced were to make local authorities transparent and more accountable. I do not believe they are any more transparent. The new systems created more tiers of bureaucracy which make it harder for the public to find out where to go, what is being done and how it is being done. The legislation before us is, in my view, more of the same.

I cannot understand the logic of a Minister giving the go ahead to legislation to be implemented in 2005 to radically overhaul the health services. In that regard, what the Government is actually saying is that the Department of Health and Children, which has overall responsibility for the health boards, has not performed its duties over the past number of years and that health boards have not been accountable for the past 30 years. Health boards have performed well and have carried out their duties. However, some tightening up is required and better structures could be put in place for health boards by way of resources. Many health board problems arise due to a lack of resources.

The health system in Ireland is one of the least resourced in the European Union. The Government will say it is investing billions of euro every year in the health service, that it is a black hole, is eating up all the money and that something has to be done. We know something has to be done. Waiting lists have increased and now stand at 27,000 and rising. What the Minister intends to do will not alleviate the waiting lists.

This legislation is window dressing. The Bill proposes the establishment of local area advisory committees. Who will they advise? Who will listen to them? Members of the previously established SPCs were frustrated because advice or decisions made by them were not taken on board. The same will be true of the proposed local area committees which will not be able to make decisions but will only give advice, 90% to 100% of which will not be taken on board because the system, when commenced, will be run by bureaucrats. The Bill proposes the putting in place of a bureaucratic system.

I cannot understand why the Minister wishes to remove public representatives from health boards. In all the years in which I have served in public life, I have not come across a case of a public representative putting his or her interests first. The Minister is, in that regard, handing over the making of decisions to vested interests. He proposes to appoint people involved in health care areas, many of whom may have vested interests. Currently, many doctors who are members of health boards put forward their interests. I have never witnessed local authority members putting their own interests before those of the public. They have always put the public first. The Minister should take another look at this issue. Nobody will listen to the proposed advisory committees. The previous system included public representatives who were at the heart of the decision-making process. Unless those appointed by the Minister are involved in that process, they will lose interest and will not put any enthusiasm or drive into the work they are supposed to do. I ask the Minister to take another look at this issue.

The vast majority of appointees to health boards by various Governments over the past 30 years were public representatives. One has to ask why that is the case. Obviously, the Minister of the day correctly believed such people had a contribution to make to health boards. Such people did have contributions to make. I am sure if one looks back on health board records one will find that in many cases public representatives made huge contributions to their particular health board.

This is window dressing by the Government to buy time. I ask the Minister to examine this legislation. We all appreciate that something must be done to alleviate the crisis in the health service. The Department has not carried out its duties. Proper resources should be put in place as the management exists within the health board system. The strengthening and resourcing of the current system along with a little rationalisation would go a long way to help solve the problems.