Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Fáiltím roimh an Aire. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach an rún seo atá os ár gcomhair inniu a phlé agus tá mé ag éisteacht go cúramach leis an méid atá á rá ag an bhFreasúra. An tseachtain seo caite, nuair a d'árdaigh mé an cheist seo, bhí mé ag moladh go mbeadh rún againn os comhair an Tí maidir le muinín nó easpa muiníne a chuir san Aire, bíodh sin bealach amháin nó bealach eile. Bhí cuid mhaith de chomhghleacaithe an Aire i bPáirtí Fhine Gael nach mbeadh fadhb dá laghad acu le vóta muiníne a chur ann, agus bhí go leor daoine sa bhFreasúra ag rá gur bhreá leo rún mímhuiníne a chur ann. Ar bhealach, is é atá ag tarlú anseo.

Tá an fhoclaíocht atá á úsáid ag daoine iontach suimiúil. I note that part of the Government amendment "commends the Minister for Health for managing within this difficult environment, and at the same time achieving cost reductions within the health sector which are impressive by international standards, particularly within the hospital sector". I take it from that wording that Fine Gael and the Labour Party are voting confidence in the Minister. Obviously, we will not be supporting the amendment. However, it is quite interesting, particularly coming from the Labour Party Senators. It appears to be very much at odds with statements from other party members. I might refer to them later.

I welcome the Fianna Fáil motion, which we will support. There are two primary issues in this debate. The first is the manner in which the Minister, Deputy James Reilly, has conducted himself. We believe he has not explained in a credible way his decision to promote two towns in his constituency to higher places on the list. The effect of this was to allow these two areas to have a status that means they will now have primary care centres. The logic formally given for the Minister's promotion of these two sites appears to be of Einstein-like complexity, notwithstanding the fact that we would not begrudge a primary care centre for any area that needs one. We believe the Minister persistently misled the House about his business connections with Seamus Murphy and the consultations he had with senior Labour Party Ministers about expanding the number of health care centres. He is dodging questions and failing to answer them clearly. I hope he takes this opportunity to answer them.

There is a certain sense of arrogance and bluster, which has only increased public suspicion that the reasoning was purely cynical and self serving. The Minister's insistence that there exists a logistical logarithmic progression is meaningless and needs explanation. Quite honestly, the dogs on the street and particularly the people who use the health services really do not believe the answer being put forward by the Government on this issue. The Minister and the rest of the Government must come clean about the basis for adding these 15 centres. That should be a very straightforward operation. The support of the Labour Party for the Minister over its own Minister of State with responsibility for primary health care is another let down for voters. Deputy Eamon Gilmore and the Labour Party have backed the Minister, Deputy James Reilly, throughout all of this and the Labour Party must take responsibility for its part in the Government too.

The second issue is the real reason the Minister should resign, namely, we believe he is doing a very bad job. The Fine Gael and Labour Party coalition has been running the public health services into the ground. The people look to their leaders to do the right thing, but Fine Gael has failed the people on this and has failed to legislate to reform the health service. We all know these are tough times and that tough decisions must be made, but this is a question of choices. Where is the legislation required to cut consultants' pay and to recoup moneys from private health insurers?

The recent controversy was sparked by cuts of ¤130 million announced by the HSE. This was in addition to ¤750 million taken out of the health budget in 2012, which itself followed a ¤1 billion cut in 2011. Recent Social Justice Ireland reports point out that during this time the income of our wealthiest citizens increased and billions of euro were handed over to bad banks. We do not see the Government tackling those groups of people. It appears that this Government will always take the easy option of cutting the services for the vulnerable.

Another issue has been glossed over in this debate. We are talking about building primary care centres, but what about the staffing of those centres? I can offer an example from Spiddal in County Galway. Spiddal has had a primary care centre for a number of years but it has never been fully staffed. It has never had the full complement of occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and other services. There is the issue of building primary care centres but there is also the issue of staffing them. This debate is taking away from the fact that while primary care centres might be built in cahoots with private enterprises, those centres must be staffed to ensure the people who need the services will get them.

Recent Government policies could put lives at risk in the interests of the profits of private insurance companies who provide care for money. We oppose the Government's amendment as we believe it ignores the reality of the health system. The Labour Party and Fine Gael said they would lift the ban on ongoing recruitment. They have not done so and are therefore forced to pay for more overtime and additional agency staff. Those extra costs mean that cuts in front-line services are inevitable. I saw that last week with the closure of a day centre in Carraroe. We were told that because agency staff could not be brought in and extra staff had been taken out of the public system to be put into Owenriff Nursing Home in Oughterard, which fell foul of a Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, report, there were not enough staff to keep the public service open last week. One cannot pull ¤1.7 billion out of the health service and expect front-line services not to be affected. That is fairytale politics and economics. Citizens deserve better and more honest policies.

We have tabled an amendment to make the motion more sensible. It is our position that Fianna Fáil's motion makes no sense or is at least incomplete. Its statement that cuts should be made elsewhere is vague. Where does that party think the cuts should be made? Is it in education or rural transport?

The point is the failing health system is a symptom of a failing economic policy, which means that policy needs changing. That was backed up yesterday by the IMF annual report, which stated that austerity is not working. However, the present Government and its predecessor had their heads in the sand in that regard. They do not want to read this and do not even want to admit it. The confidence of the people in the health care system has been limited in any case and for good reason. The actions of the Government and the air of stroke politics arising from the Minister's recent decision have made this worse. As Phil Prendergast, MEP, has stated, this is the sort of politics that has brought us to ruin. The people are losing faith in their Government to do the right thing. Are Nessa Childers, MEP, Phil Prendergast, MEP, and others in a different Labour Party?