David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. When I hear politicians say that we should put politics aside, it is always politicians in government. The reality is that, when the Minister for Health was in opposition, he was a robust spokesperson for health, rightly so. Our job is to hold the Government to account. We will work constructively with it if it makes the right decisions, but in many areas it is not making the right decisions.

Many previous speakers referred to Titanic. This is the centenary of the sinking of Titanic. It is apt for those Senators to raise that analogy in terms of where the health services and the Bill are at. We support the Bill only because it is an improvement, not because we believe it will deal fundamentally with the real problems in the health service. Essentially, this is rearranging the deckchairs on Titanic.

Public health services are struggling from day to day. Those who work in the health service are under extreme pressure. Hospitals are suffering and many are reeling from the latest round of cuts of ¤130 million and cuts to home care packages, in addition to the ¤750 million taken out of the health budget in 2012 and ¤1 billion in 2011. Fianna Fáil was also responsible for taking large amounts of money out of the health service and not properly reforming it. It, too, has to take responsibility for that.