Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes. This matter relates to the withdrawal of an essential service connecting Donegal and hospitals in Dublin. The service has been subsidised by the HSE, formerly the health boards, for some 38 years. The service entails the transportation to Dublin of patients with hospital appointments in the city when they are unable to receive their required medical care, attention or treatment in Letterkenny and Sligo general hospitals. Marley Coach Hire, which has operated the service for the past 38 years, received confirmation last week from the HSE that the subsidy of almost €100,000 would be withdrawn with effect from 27 July, ten days from today. The withdrawal will leave many families and ill patients, who may never even have used the service, without a service. The security of having the service will be withdrawn to make an apparent saving of €100,000. This is shameful and disgraceful, particularly given the waste within the HSE at present, despite the promises made by the Minister for Health to combat waste.

Let us consider some of the key statistics pertaining to the Department at present. Agency staff costs have doubled in four years and are in excess of €200 million this year, despite assurances by the Minister for Health in the Dáil last September, October and November that they would be reduced greatly. The cost of taxi services within the HSE has risen by 10%, from €26 million in 2010 to €28 million in 2011. Medico-legal payments and associated costs have risen from €39 million in 2008 to a projected €127 million this year. The overtime bill in the HSE and Department of Health was €170 million in 2011. In the first five months of this year, it has amounted to €69 million.

Despite what has been promised, the expenditure increases and waste have been escalating within the Department of Health. The service to which I refer costs only €100,000. If any of the aforementioned costs had been tackled, as promised by the Minister for Health, €100,000 would be but a drop in the ocean by comparison with the overall budget. We face over-expenditure in the Department of Health this year of at least €500 million. The returns that were to have been made to the Revenue Commissioners were late. The Department has been penalised and the interest and penalties that accrued amounted to €100,000, which is exactly what we need to keep the service open in County Donegal.

While I know the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, is not directly responsible for the Department of Health, he should note there is a serious issue within the HSE owing to taxpayers' money that is unaccounted for. There is significant over-expenditure. How can individuals in County Donegal, a geographically isolated area, be expected to travel to Dublin on public transport vehicles that are not wheelchair accessible, unlike those provided by Marley Coach Hire? If patients are ill, how can they be expected to attend for emergency treatment or urgent appointments? Many of the individuals concerned are elderly. How can they be expected to navigate through the streets of Dublin on foot, taxi or connecting bus? The nature of the service is hard to contemplate for somebody who lives in Dublin city. Those from a country area depend on the kind of service that would bring one from Letterkenny General Hospital to a hospital in Dublin in the morning for an appointment and bring one home in the evening without one having to get a taxi or navigate through the city of Dublin.

This morning, a Senator spoke on "Today with Pat Kenny" about the dangers in O'Connell Street in Dublin during the day and night. The people from Donegal to whom I refer will be dropped off in O'Connell Street if the service is withdrawn. I refer to sick, elderly and disabled people. This is simply unacceptable. How can it be justified given the massive over-expenditure and freefall in the HSE, bearing in mind that the service in question is critical if the elderly and most vulnerable are to be protected when travelling to emergency hospital appointments?