Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "recognising that:" and substitute the following:

the number of people employed in the public health service since 1997 has increased by 63%, from just under 68,000 to over 111,500 whole time equivalent staff; and in particular, by the end of 2006, there were

2,736 more medical and dental staff, a 55% increase;

8,975 more health and social care professionals, a 151% increase; and

11,000 additional nurses, a 43% increase.

frontline service posts are increasing again this year, with the HSE having already authorised an additional 2,500 new posts in the context of approved new service developments;

reaffirms the statutory requirement that the Executive should manage its budget within the Vote approved by Dail Eireann and acknowledges that the Executive has taken steps to ensure that it meets this objective in 2007, by means of its Breakeven Plan 2007;

and notes, in particular, that the pause in recruitment will be reviewed by the Executive on 1 October 2007, in the light of the financial situation then obtaining;

acknowledges the significant new investment made in cancer control, and supports the Minister for Health and Children in her commitment to ensuring equitable access to high quality cancer services for patients throughout the country.

and acknowledges in particular:

that cancer survival is improving in Ireland for all of the major cancers;

the establishment by the Minister of a National Cancer Screening Service Board which will roll-out BreastCheck commencing in October of this year and the Irish Cervical Screening Programme commencing in January 2008 and also advise on a colorectal cancer screening programme;

the Minister's approval of National Quality Standards for Symptomatic Breast Disease Services under the Health Act 2007 to ensure that every woman in Ireland who develops breast cancer has an equal opportunity to be managed in a centre which is capable of delivering the best possible outcome;

the additional revenue investment of €20.5 million in cancer control in 2007 and the establishment by the Health Service Executive of a National Cancer Control Programme to implement the National Strategy for Cancer Control;

that the National Development Plan 2007-2013 includes major investment in the implementation of the Cancer Control Strategy, including state of the art diagnostic and treatment facilities; and

the commitment of the Government and the Health Service Executive to achieving a progressive expansion of radiotherapy capacity over a timeframe which meets patients needs."

I welcome the Minister. I am delighted to see her back. The HSE was set up in January 2005. Countless debates took place in this House prior to its setting up. The tenor of these debates ranged from positive to negative and somewhere in between. Some people took a certain approach and expressed their feelings about the abolition of the old health boards. The HSE is now in place and it is responsible for the running of the health service with an annual budget of €14.3 billion.

It is important to note the generous increase to the health budget by the Fianna Fáil-led Governments in the past ten years. The Government has said, and will continue to say, it will invest and give more resources to the HSE. We must be prepared to let the Health Service Executive do its job. It is not yet three years in operation and already people are writing it off. Like any other organisation or, indeed, household, we must remain within our budgetary allocations. The HSE has a chief executive officer and a board in place to run this massive organisation in a professional manner. Let us have faith in them and give them the confidence to do a very difficult job. It is an enormous and complex organisation when one considers all the components that go to make it up and who they must look after — doctors, nurses, associated health professionals together with administration and domestic staff — and an annual budget of €14.3 billion of taxpayers' money each year.

I listened with interest to what Senator Fitzgerald had to say when she raised the issue of Sligo General Hospital, which is my own general hospital. I am aware Sligo General Hospital has been asked to make savings of up to €5 million out of an annual budget of €108 million, 75% of which goes to pay staff, but it has only been asked to make savings on services for which it does not already have funding and where it had taken on consultants to work in those areas. Senator Fitzgerald quoted Mr. Niall Considine's very good letter in The Irish Times last Saturday. I know Niall Considine very well. My colleague, Senator MacSharry, and I, along with our two Deputies, work very closely with Mr. Considine for the betterment of Sligo General Hospital. We sat around a table on many occasions and hammered out deals with the Department and the HSE for the betterment of Sligo General Hospital.