Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not the excellent system which the Minister purports. We should be cultivating and supporting the public health service, which is the best way to provide health care to the public. The biggest mistake made by Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats with the Health Service Executive was giving it an awful name. Why is the National Health Service in Britain beloved?

It is a public health service which even the Tories would not dare to touch. It is beloved because there is a history there and a principle that everybody will be looked after regardless of his or her means, or lack of means. That is a principle we need to support. We need to gradually move way from the two-tier system, which has been in place under all Governments. I am not convinced in regard to private health insurance.

We cannot allow a Minister to make directions because there will be motions before the Dáil asking the Minister to direct the Health Service Executive or the director general to do different things which would not be the Minister's responsibility. However, the power would be there for the Minister to do so because it is a very general power and there is very little in the Bill as to the type of directions the Minister may make.

I can certainly see Members of Dáil Éireann tabling parliamentary questions asking that the Minister make directions in certain instances and I can see motions being put down on such directions. That is no way to run the health service. The health service should be run on the basis of medical need and medical priorities. I do not agree with the Minister interfering in that because Fine Gael has not shown it is able to manage health care and that it understood the health system before the election because if it did, it would not have made the rash promises it made around the country. In Roscommon the promise was completely broken, in Navan it was not kept and in Monaghan, it was completely broken. The Minister said in Monaghan that if he did not keep his promise, he would resign. That was a very dangerous promise to make and he has broken it but I would not ask him to resign over things like that.

A motion in the Dáil expressed confidence in the Minister and we must accept that but I appeal to him to work with the Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, on the primary health care centres. I want to see a primary health care centre built in Kells but I was very disappointed with the answer given last night by the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, on the Minister's behalf. It was very vague on whether that health centre would be built. Negotiations were taking place with a preferred bidder who a number of years ago told the Department it could not afford to build it. I would like an update from the Minister on that because I will certainly do what I can to support that particular project, notwithstanding all the cynics out there. This Bill is an abomination and it is a pity my party is supporting it.