Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, to the House and wish him well in his first and well-deserved Ministry. I had the pleasure of serving in Government with his father Paddy Power, who was a tremendous Minister for Defence and an excellent constituency worker. It is great to see the continuity and I wish the Minister of State every success in the Department of Health and Children.

The Minister outlined in detail the Health Bill 2004, a very complex and detailed Bill which will take some time to get through before the recess. The Minister clearly stated that the Bill is based on the recommendations of two reports, the Commission on Financial Management and Control Systems in the Health Service, known as the Brennan report, and the Audit of Structures and Functions in the Health System, known as the Prospectus report. Both reports were commissioned by the Department of Health and Children and published in June 2003.

It is important to put the origins of the Bill in context. The Bill proposes the most radical and dramatic changes from 1 January 2005. In the programme for Government published by the Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fáil, there is a very detailed assessment of the proposals which we outlined. They are based on the national health strategy in which many of us were involved. As a former chairman of the Western Health Board, I and others were involved in those discussions. It is important to put in context from where the Minister is coming.

It is the first time, possibly since the days of the former Deputy Brendan Corish, that the Tánaiste is also the Minister for Health and Children. The Minister, Deputy Harney brings to her portfolio a tremendous strength as leader of the only other party in Government with Fianna Fáil. She has great experience and was an effective Minister in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I know from the present discussions that she has already succeeded in obtaining major additional funding from the Department of Finance and she will ensure that the health strategy works. I wish her well. The Ministers, Deputies Martin and Cowen were also very effective in both those Departments.

We should take a very positive approach to the health area. It is undermining to see in The Roscommon Champion this week the same sort of propaganda being issued by Fine Gael as was issued during the local elections on 19 June 2004 in the Roscommon area and on 11 June in the rest of Ireland. The article is headed, "Naughten in new warning over Roscommon A & E", and it states:

The Health Bill which is going through the Dáil this week will lead to downgrading of Roscommon Hospital, according to Deputy Denis Naughten. He told The Roscommon Champion that the hospital may lose its accident and emergency unit as a result, in a statement dealing with the Health Bill which is going through the Report and Final Stages in Dáil Éireann and now being passed by Dáil Éireann.

This is the type of propaganda which was spread throughout the local elections of 2004 by leaflets which asked people to "save our local hospital services" by signing a petition. I remind Deputy Naughten, the Fine Gael Party and its spokesman for health in this House that we can look at the overall position regarding the reform of the health services and also look at the localscene. The latter reflects what is happening nationally.

On 15 May 2002, as chairman of the Western Health Board, I signed a contract for a new accident and emergency department at Roscommon County Hospital. That unit has now been provided with additional funding of €2.5 million for the appointment of more staff to be recruited early in 2005. That is a clear indication of the commitment of this Government to the development of the accident and emergency unit at the hospital. The Minister, Deputy Harney, has stated clearly that she will develop services at local level and ensure that they are maintained. I believe she will do so.