Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Despite the comments by a previous speaker to the effect that it was great to have cross-party support on some legislation, that Member was misguided because my party and I completely reject this legislation.

Ar mo bhealach isteach go dtí an Seanad casadh beirt as mo cheantar féin, as paróiste Ghaoth Dobhair orm, sa halla. Is comharsa béal dorais é duine acu agus níl siúl fada idir an duine eile agus mé féin. Tá aithne mhaith agam orthu agus tá aithne mhaith ag ár teaghlaigh ar a chéile. Dúradh liom go raibh siad istigh anseo inniu de shiocair an Bhille seo atá ag dul tríd Tithe an Oireachtais. Dúirt siad liom go bhfuil siad féin amuigh i St. Luke's anois le sé nó seacht seachtain anuas, go bhfuil ailse orthu agus go bhfuil siad ag fáil seirbhíse den chéad scoth ó St. Lukes. Níl siadsan ag iarraidh go ndúnfar an seirbhís seo i 2014 mar atá beartaithe ag an Rialtas a dhéanamh. Leis an reachtaíocht seo, fágann an Rialtas an doras oscailte fá choinne sin. Chuir an méid a dúirt siad liom ina luí ormsa cé chomh tábhachtach agus atá an seirbhís i St. Lukes. Tá dlúthcheangal idir muintir Dhún na nGall agus ospidéal St. Luke's. Beidh mise ag cur in éadan an Bhille seo. Níor cheart dúinn, nuair atá seirbhísí maithe ann agus ospidéal againn atá ag cur ar fáil seirbhísí den chéad scoth, a bheith ag dúnadh na seirbhísí sin. Ba cheart dúinn a bheith ag cur leo agus ag tabhairt tacaíochta dóibh

As I was walking into the Chamber to give my Second Stage speech, I met two gentlemen from my parish who are friends of mine and my family for many years. One is a next door neighbour and the other is from the same townland. They told me they were present to express their concerns regarding the passage of this Bill through the Seanad. They mentioned that both of them were availing of the services at St. Luke's and are undergoing treatment there at present. The decision of patients of St. Luke's Hospital to come into Leinster House today demonstrates their affinity and grá for that hospital. They had nothing but praise for the service provided there. This Bill provides for the discontinuation of such services for cancer patients and as such constitutes an attack upon the sick. Therefore, my support and that of my party will not be forthcoming.

The Bill principally deals with the discontinuation of services at St. Luke's Hospital for cancer. As previously noted, more than 180,000 people have signed a petition to the Dáil and Seanad appealing to Members as representatives and as the jury in this case to vote against this cruel and drastic legislation. This Bill is little more than an attack on the sick. One hears hear much about the Government's plans regarding centres of excellence. However, although St. Luke's has been a centre of excellence for many years, the Government, in a cynical and cruel move, wishes to close it in the future. Similar scenarios have arisen in my native county, in which two community hospitals, one of which also is a nursing home, are under threat of immediate closure by the HSE and the Government. That is simply one example of what the Government is doing to health services.

As I noted earlier, many people from County Donegal have a strong affinity with St. Luke's and either have been treated there or have had loved ones treated there. No one to whom I have had the chance to talk has had anything but praise for the services that were made available to them while in St. Luke's. I make this point in respect of people from my parish who must travel for four and a half hours to get to St. Luke's and who understand the services that are available there. However, they also understand that County Donegal and the north west have been completely left out of the radiation oncology plan proposed by the Minister for Health and Children and the HSE in which it is proposed that no centre of excellence will be situated north of a line from Dublin to Galway. That is nothing short of a scandal and the decision must be revisited.

Health care services across the State are in crisis. The HSE has been exposed many times as being grossly incompetent and unfit to run a health service. The Government tries to hide behind it, but central to the HSE's failure is the disastrous health policy of the Government.

The experience of St. Luke's Hospital is replicated around the country. The Government wishes to downgrade or close hospitals. It is following a policy of over-centralisation and the privatisation of services. This policy rewards the private health care sector with land on public hospital sites and tax breaks to develop private for-profit hospitals. At the same time the Government wishes to close long-standing, tried and trusted facilities such as those provided in St. Luke's Hospital. Across the country cancer patients have been denied life-saving opportunities because successive Governments have failed to provide the radiation oncology facilities required. The Government has had ample time and the benefit of a booming economy to plan and budget for the provision of radiotherapy centres across the country. The State could and should have taken the lead and provided these centres as public facilities open to all on the basis of need alone. Instead the Government committed itself to entering public private partnerships to deliver them.

Very few Members are unaffected by cancer. Withdrawing services from St. Luke's Hospital is little more than an attack on people who are suffering. This proposal made by the Government to close St. Luke's Hospital as a cancer centre by 2014 should be opposed by everyone who believes people have a right to decent health care. I will vote against the Bill and urge everyone who referred to the 180,000 people who had petitioned them to listen to their voices, including of those who have survived cancer and been treated in St. Luke's Hospital and who are pleading with us not to pass the legislation and to reject the Bill outright. I urge Senators to join me in doing so today.