Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, to the House. It is a pleasure to have him back here in his new capacity as Minister of State and I am delighted to see him. I am sure, and I hope, he will be a regular visitor to the House. We also appreciate the presence of the Minister for Health for more than half of the debate and for responding directly and personally. It was important to us that he did so.

We have listened to speakers from the Fianna Fáil Party go on at length about flaws in the health care policy of the Government. Senator White differed by acknowledging the Government's radical reform programme and made favourable comments about it. I agree with her that we have had inequalities in the health care system for far too long and they are unsupportable. It is hard to accept criticisms from a party that governed during prosperous times yet increased the inequality in the health care system and presided over disastrous policies like co-location, the initiation of a consultant contract of which it is now critical, and the growing inequality and long waiting lists that we had even in the boom. We easily forget that during the Celtic tiger there were huge problems with the health care system and there was no attempt made to carry out a systemic reform that the Government is committed to.

I am proud to be part of the Government because and I shall quote the programme for Government which states, "This Government is the first in the history of the State that is committed to developing a universal, single-tier health service, which guarantees access to medical care based on need, not income."