Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

We know what Members opposite did when they had the opportunity. The health system has had enough people pretending there is a magic remedy which will cure all our ills. People voted for Fianna Fáil because they promised and will deliver sustained action on these services.

Fianna Fáil is committed to a programme of investment and reform involving all elements of the system. The health strategy is the core of that programme. Since its publication, it has set the agenda for health. This is a strategy for fundamental reform, which is unprecedented in its depth and vision, based upon partnership with patients and professionals who are most familiar with the needs of the health services. The only way to deliver an effective strategy for the entire health service is to ensure that it is based on a progressive programme of research and negotiation, which was utterly absent before the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government took office in 1997.

Since coming into office, we have implemented the largest sustained increase in the history of the health service. In four years, between 1997 and 2001, the per capita spend on health has risen from fifth from the bottom of the EU scale to just above the EU average. The Opposition refuses to acknowledge any progress in any area. The argument is based on hyperbole, not fact. It constantly ignores and misrepresents what has happened and what is under way. Opposition Members will not acknowledge that the Government has delivered the largest sustained programme of increases in the history of our health services. They will not acknowledge that approximately 200,000 more people are being treated in our hospitals. They will not acknowledge that in the past year there was a 42% reduction in the number of adults waiting more than 12 months for in-patient treatment and a 39% reduction in the number of children waiting more than six months. They will not acknowledge that work is well under way in more than 80% of the health strategy's actions. They will not acknowledge that a percentage of gross national product in Exchequer funding for health is the highest figure for almost 20 years, even though we have been through a period of massive growth.

Fianna Fáil is the only party interested in developing our health services rather than just using it as a populist football. The sole objective of our policy is to develop a service where employees are enabled to work to the best of their ability and every patient has equal access to high quality care. We have increased health spending by over 188% since 1997 and will continue with this unprecedented investment. In addition, we are carrying out the most radical programme of change for the health sector since the establishment of the health board structures in the 1970s.

We are not interested in the empty soundbites perpetuated by some on the other side of the House. Of course, in recent times there has been much talk from Fine Gael and the Labour Party about a democratic alternative. The reality is that the record of the parties of the self-styled coalition of the caring, from the last time they held office, does not compare favourably to the progress of recent times.