Seanad debates

Wednesday, 1 June 2011

2:30 pm

Photo of Rónán MullenRónán Mullen (Independent)

Imeasc buanna an tSeanaid tá an deis atá aici cúrsaí reatha a phlé, go háirithe nuair a bhíonn fadhbanna ollmhóra os comhair an phobail. Tá sé rí-thábhachtach go dtapódh an Seanad an deis chun na cúrsaí sin a chur faoi chaibidil. Ní fiú é sin a dhéanamh muna bhfuil saineolas agus cruinneas le cloisint freisin.

One way in which the Seanad can make a difference is through its ability to comment on important and pressing current issues. However, we will only really take advantage of that opportunity and serve the public well if wisdom is reflected in our contributions. I support Senator Darragh O'Brien's call for a debate on the programme for Government and it is important such a debate should take place. It would be impossible to ignore the good work done by "Prime Time Investigates" as shown in the past couple of nights in highlighting not alone the human cost of cutbacks but also their hidden human cost. These programmes, in particular the programme shown on Monday night, drew public attention to the suffering of so many good people in silence.

It will be difficult for Members of this House and the Dáil to debate these issues in the coming months knowing the gruesome trial we face in trying to close the deficit between what is taken in and what is paid out. It is not enough for the Minister to say it is a matter of prioritisation. Members of the public, in particular those at the centre of the documentaries, deserve to be told by the Government at the earliest possible opportunity the full menu of options in terms of cutbacks to be made and how precisely it proposes to prioritise in order that the needs of some of the most vulnerable in our society will not be pushed aside. It is not acceptable for the public to have to depend on the public broadcaster to highlight such suffering. We need to be up close with the details of the cutbacks, commenting on them and making recommendations to the Executive about what is appropriate and what is not.

Members of the Government and the Minister who now has responsibility for health made great play when in Opposition of the fact that the previous Government used the operational independence of the Health Service Executive as a way of dumping and quarantining problems that needed to be dealt with. It is right and proper that the Minister would seek to put order on the HSE's house but he is now the person in charge. He will need to come to this House and to the Dáil to tell us in advance what will be done, as part of the necessary prioritisation. We must look forward to a moment when we are not dependent on RTE to bring the hidden suffering of so many good people to light.

I encourage the Government to resist taking the opportunity to be in Government and Opposition at the same time. In recent days we saw a succession of events when Ministers announced proposals and Members from the other party in Government snapped at the ankles of the Minister. That strikes me as playing the PR game. The people who will be affected by, for example, changes in registered employment agreements or the introduction of water charges deserve that the Cabinet should settle on a line before we hear about changes. The next people to be told should be Members of the Oireachtas. Let us have an end to announcements being made in the media before they are heard of in the Oireachtas. If we are serious about political reform we will maximise the potential of the Oireachtas. One way that will happen is by the Executive outlining plans that have been agreed in Cabinet and sharing them with the Oireachtas at an early date. The Government can then have its press conference. People will have no time for the Dáil and Seanad if it is widely known that we are the last to hear about important developments in public policy.

I welcome the promise of a new group in the House. I encourage them to be as independently minded as the university Senators will be. If they are not, we will want to know why. I encourage them in their deliberations.

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