Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One wonders why a Senator who was most vocal on the issue of Abbeyleix hospital is absent from the Chamber. I am sure he is wondering when the announcement will be made by the Minister, Deputy Reilly. The Labour Party Whip, party leader and spokesperson on health are present but they have to be here. One wonders, however, about their colleagues who have, quite rightly, raised some of these issues in the past.

The aforementioned sideshow is occurring against the backdrop of a floundering health service. There are many isolated issues to celebrate. Some have been pointed out. Earlier, Senator Burke pointed to some developments that are going well. Of course, there are many people working extremely hard and giving very good care to people throughout the country.

There are many isolated issues to celebrate. The Minister has mentioned them. Senator Burke referred to a number of aspects that were going well. Many people are working hard to provide good care throughout the country. However, there is a major issue with cost overruns, the health service's general management and front line cuts. It has been proposed to cut home help hours again. Combined with previous cuts, this amounts to 1 million hours. The HSE will not be in a position to assess each individual case for cutbacks between now and Christmas.

Promises were made. As the Minister is aware, I am on record accusing him of running a deeply cynical campaign from the Opposition benches. He made a series of promises to buy the general election based on a bottom line that he knew could not support the level of expenditure demanded. Promises were made in Ennis and Roscommon, there was going to be a centre of excellence in Sligo and cancer services were to be returned within 100 hundred days, a promise on which the current Minister of State, Deputy Perry, pontificated. All of them have been welched upon and the Minister has claimed that he did not realise that the cupboard was bare. He met the troika before the election was called and knew that the cupboard would not allow him to fulfil promises of that nature. As I have stated on previous Private Members' motions on health, that was irresponsible.

Yesterday, the director general designate of the HSE and the Secretary General of the Department attended the Committee of Public Accounts and were able to clarify that what was a deficit of ¤329 million had increased to ¤374 million. With the deficit increasing by ¤45 million per month, people can legitimately ask whether the Government can continue. Never mind the sideshow of a Minister of State resigning because she has no confidence in her senior Minister, whom she accused of stroke politics and who is clearly looking after his buddies in the Cabinet and his party. Examples include the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, in the case of Kilkenny, and Deputy Feighan in Roscommon, who took a bullet on Roscommon hospital that Deputy Naughten was not prepared to take. The Minister, Deputy Reilly, is also looking after his own constituency. Conveniently enough and as luck would have it, the person who owns the site happens to be a member and supporter of the party. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with that. Ireland is a small country and it is possible to trace a political lineage to everyone. Someone somewhere has had a first cousin who has canvassed for someone else in some party at some time. However and as the former Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, pointed out, this explanation does not account for the agreed and clear criterion of deprivation being unilaterally ignored.

We were told that the Minister consulted his Cabinet colleagues and took advice from HSE officials, but the HSE's director general designate clearly stated yesterday that he was not in a position to confirm that the HSE had anything to do with the site's selection. The children's hospital is due to be built in the constituency of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar. I wonder whether that had anything to do with his support for the Minister, Deputy Reilly. On "The Week in Politics", he stated that what had happened looked like stroke politics. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, and others expressed doubts.

Many of the Labour and Fine Gael Senators who have expressed concerns about, for example, the home help cutbacks and the cost overruns are absent. The overruns were advised by Mr. Cathal Magee as far back as March or April, given the budget set out by the Minister. That budget was dishonest because it was not achievable as far as Mr. Magee was concerned, but he was shipped out of his HSE offices and someone new who was prepared to take over was slipped in. The hospital overruns were predicted by me and many others almost one year ago. Some ¤124 million was to be saved on drugs and ¤74 million on the charging for the use of private beds. None of these savings was achieved.