Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I support Senator Fitzgerald's call for a debate on the need to advance the promised isolation facilities for cystic fibrosis patients. No area of public expenditure is more important than the provision of such facilities. It is shocking to think that people in another part of this island might have better outcomes because we have not made the necessary investment here.

The Irish Hospice Foundation has been making the point that we should not neglect our health care buildings. If a patient in hospital accesses facilities of poorer quality than those available in a hotel, that is an indictment of our system. We know that is the reality. We must not take the foot off the pedal in reforming our hospital buildings. We need to reach a point where patients are in single bed wards. Many other changes are necessary too. Despite being in a difficult economic situation, we absolutely have to continue to plan for the future and improve hospital conditions soon.

I am very surprised that, while the Government is coy about aspects of the budget, it is willing to say what is not in the budget. I understand that the Minister ruled out adding €2 to the price of a packet of cigarettes. The argument is made that the tax would increase smuggling, but that is a matter of enforcement. We must not turn our backs on the need to enforce the law. I asked Combat Poverty this morning, at a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs, what it thinks of the proposal and it said that there is a regressive dimension to the idea because it might disproportionately affect poorer sections of the community. That can be addressed, however, by investing the revenue of €420 million in the community in cessation programmes and so on. I ask the Government not to be so quick to rule out a good idea that would generate revenue and carry a significant public health benefit.