Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Health was in the House for more than five hours yesterday and engaged in a detailed debate on a number of issues. I am somewhat concerned that one of our national newspapers ran a story this morning stating that the Minister was running for cover. It gave the impression that the Minister was not available to anyone when he was here for five hours yesterday dealing with issues raised by my colleagues on the other side of the House - which they were entitled to raise. We had a debate from 2.30 to 4.30 on a Bill to restructure the health service and a further two-hour debate on the primary health care centres. Now a national newspaper claims that the Minister is running for cover. That is unfair coverage by any newspaper.

Regardless of who is in charge of health - this also goes back to the previous Minister - the Minister for Health seems to be the running target at all times. He is trying to do a job in a very difficult area and it cannot be resolved overnight. He has also had to deal with ¤1.7 billion having been taken from the budget in the past two to three years. He is dealing with that in a very constructive way.

Some Senators have spoken about public service allowances.

The background to this issue is interesting. One of the biggest costs in life is the cost of buying a house. In 2000, this was within the reach of most people working in the public service. The Bacon report published in 2002 provided guidelines on what needed to be done in this area. The problem was created by the bowing by the previous Government to the construction industry, which allowed property prices to increase by 200% to 400%.