Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I concur with the invitation extended to the new Taoiseach by Senator O'Toole and Senator Alex White. I made that suggestion yesterday to the Leader and I hope it can be considered and acted upon.

One of the issues debated here on a daily basis is the health service. We frantically debated the proposed Hanly report two to three years ago, which would have resulted in the death knell for many of our smaller local hospitals. I remember some of the Fianna Fáil Senators proudly proclaiming at the time that the report had been binned. Since then many of the proposals have been introduced by stealth. I look forward to having an early debate on the health services with the Minister, who remains in her position. There were indications that there might be a change in health policy, but the speech by the new Taoiseach indicated nothing but the strongest support for the Minister and her health proposals.

The new Taoiseach said that the county hospitals were the centre of the medical universe and that they had served us well, but that we must now change the mindset. He went on to say that the health service should focus on what services we can provide, rather than where we can provide them. He also told us that we needed to view hospitals as networks and not stand-alone institutions. That is only a snapshot of what he said, but it indicates that the Taoiseach is giving full support to the proposals by the HSE and the Minister, which could result in many hospitals being under severe threat, including my own local hospital in Mallow. We need early clarification from the Minister on what exactly the Taoiseach's thinking means and what will be its impact for our smaller hospitals in rural Ireland.

I agree with the Taoiseach that our hospitals have served us well, but I also believe that they can serve us well in the future. We must not dismiss the role of the county hospitals and the smaller hospitals. They are an integral part of the health service. Big is not always beautiful and for health services, small can also be beautiful. The level of efficiency shown by Mallow General Hospital is proof that smaller hospitals should have a huge role to play in the health service. We should be assuring their future rather than threatening them.