Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

The Leader gave the impression on the Order of Business today and last week that the Minister for Health and Children would answer any questions from Members about health issues. I have no doubt the Minister is well qualified and well able to answer any question that is put to her.

The Minister has come to this House many times and I compliment her because she always speaks off the cuff. She knows the system inside out and she is familiar with every aspect of the health system. What is wrong with the system? The Minister is much better informed than us to answer that.

There is something seriously wrong within the Health Service Executive because it is not working. It has been brought to my attention recently that under the former health board system, when people were going for promotion, the human resources officer or the senior staff nurse would make the recommendation and the chief executive officer for the district would sign off on it, but I understand that now in some cases it can involve up to ten different stages for a person to be granted promotion or for human resource decisions to be made. This is unbelievable and unrealistic.

I was informed recently that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Mark Durkan, MLA, the leader of the SDLP, stated that the centre of excellence in the north east should be situated on the Border. It is outrageous that the Minister for Foreign Affairs should even be associated with this statement. If there were to be any centre of excellence along the Border, it should be placed in the Sligo-Leitrim-Fermanagh area in that blackspot which has no hospital cover. The golden hour is not covered in many cases in the north west.

When will the centres of excellence be established and funding put in place? It is quite clear that adequate funding is not being put in place. Everyone agrees Galway should be the centre of excellence in the west. I refer to the problems in Galway, not least of which is parking in the city centre. It is a nightmare for people visiting patients and it is sometimes necessary to park on the Headford Road which is miles away. Even at this late stage the Minister should revisit the issue of Castlebar and Sligo as satellites of Galway and the case has been well made by the people of the west.

The pharmacy dispute is heading for disaster on 1 May. Nobody seems to know what will happen. What are the contingency plans in place for County Mayo, the third largest county in the country? Will these be administered from Castlebar General Hospital? How will people get their medicines? I hope the Minister will allay the fears of the people with respect to the pharmacy dispute. The HSE is wrong not to engage in discussions with the pharmacists who have a lot to offer in this dispute. There are many ways in which the HSE and the Department of Health and Children can save money. If the pharmacists were given the opportunity to put their case in a proper fashion to the HSE and if the executive were to listen to them, the dispute could be resolved and there would be substantial savings for the health budget and the Department.