Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to move an amendment to the Order of Business. I ask that either the Minister for Health or one of the troika of Ministers overseeing the Department, namely, Deputy Howlin, Deputy Noonan or the Taoiseach, would make himself available to the House today to discuss the spending overrun in the Department and the HSE service plan which was published a number of weeks ago.

It appears that the overrun now stands at €350 million, €199 million of which is being made available through a Supplementary Estimate which will be discussed by the Select Sub-Committee on Health tomorrow. I believe that Supplementary Estimate should be discussed by these Houses and not just by the Select Sub-Committee on Health, a committee which often sits at the same time as the Order of Business is taking place in this House, which is disrespectful to the primary business of the Seanad.

It will be discussed in the Dáil next week. I gather the remainder of the shortfall will be made up from, among other areas, €82 million in pension lump sums. Is this being taken from some pension scheme? Will this affect future superannuation payments? We have heard much talk in recent weeks about how pension funds are under-resourced and so forth. What implications will the taking of another €50 million from capital expenditure and the transfer of savings from the Department of Health have for the Health Service Executive?

I do not wish to be personal about the Minister for Health. However, it is simply unacceptable that this level of mismanagement is allowed to continue. It is not the Minister’s fault but it is somebody’s. Questions need to be answered. Meanwhile the chief executive officers of various hospitals have pointed out in writing that their hospitals are at breaking point, with budget overruns of €67 million. We have not even got to the position of trying to get the €666 million in so-called savings for next year. In its final assessment of the Irish position, the EU cautioned that, looking to the future, in view of the fact that only 30% of the Minister’s predicted savings were made, there were serious implications for the health budget.

While I appreciate that the Minister has made himself available to the House to discuss legislation - he will he here today to deal with legislation - the overall financing of health and its management needs a specific debate urgently.