David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----which he was, to take a debate on Senator Feargal Quinn's Bill on private health insurance. Any issue that was raised by a Senator on any side of the House, which was outside the scope of the Bill, was ruled out of order. The debate on that Bill was not the appropriate time to have a proper debate with the Minister for Health on the wide range of issues that are affecting health care. I again call for a proper debate on health care. The issue of the medical card fiasco, which was mentioned already, is still not resolved. There are still people without their medical cards and we have not had a proper resolution of that issue. The budget overrun is just a symptom of what is wrong in the health service. We have a budget overrun but front-line services are under attack all of the time.
We had the cronyism which led to the resignation of the then junior Minister, Deputy Róisín Shortall, hospital beds and wards are closing and have been for some time. Now we have the OECD report which shows that Ireland has fewer doctors. We pay consultants more than the average rate in OECD terms yet we are continuously told by the Minister for Health that the reason we do not have enough consultants is that we do not pay them enough or that they will not come to work in this State for the salaries that are in place. The OECD report, interestingly, shows that in terms of State money consultants in this State get much more than in any state in Europe, which is what we in Sinn Féin have been saying for some time. It also states that we spend less per capitathan any other country in the OECD region on health care.

That is why we have a crisis in health care. We are just not investing and spending enough. I come from a school of thought, from which the Labour Party once came, whereby if one wants proper public services one has to raise enough taxes in a fair and progressive way to pay for them. Let us get back to that and have a debate on health care and the problems therein. I ask that the Minister be invited to come to the House for a debate in the coming weeks. I will not table an amendment to the Order of Business. I have flagged the issue a number of times. I hope the Deputy Leader will convey my request to the Leader for a debate to be arranged in the next few weeks. Whether it is the old Minister for Health or a new Minister does not matter. We need the person who has responsibility for health care to come to the House as soon as possible.