Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have been raising the issue of expenditure and contract procurement by the Saolta Healthcare Group in recent weeks and in that context, it would be appropriate to have a debate in this House on HSE spending on PR consultants. We should hear from the Minister for Health on this issue because between 2005 and 2009, the HSE spent approximately €10 million per year on spin doctors and PR firms. I have been unable to get the up to date figures and undoubtedly the annual spend has fallen somewhat. Nevertheless, the question remains as to why the HSE has been engaging the services of PR firms at all. Why is a public body, established under the Health Act 2004, investing in a press operation? Senators will have heard the phrase about having a dog and barking oneself, which is relevant here. Why is it that the HSE has people in receipt of publicly-funded salaries doing communications work for it but is also procuring PR and spin doctor services through contracts at a time when people are struggling? I and many other Senators have been raising so many challenges faced by individuals, families and communities. Recently I spoke about people trying to get basic housing allocated to them and about people being in danger of losing their accommodation because of rent increases. This is going on while our public bodies spend fortunes on making themselves look good in the eyes of voters and the wider public.

I raise this issue today because currently the west has no baby cooling system for children who were deprived of oxygen before birth. Unless such babies are given cooling treatment brain damage can occur. I understand that Saolta, as it is now called after an expensive name change, has engaged Setanta Communications - a PR firm - to justify and spin about the fact, among other things, University College Hospital Galway has no cooling system in place. Let me just draw on the words of one particular advertisement - the cost of a baby cooling mat: €10,000; the cost of the services of a neonatalogist: €60,000; the cost of a law suit for a child who suffered brain damage: €4 million; and the cost of saving a child's life: priceless. We have our priorities all wrong and it is disgraceful that the spend on PR firms is greater than the spend on life-saving treatments.

The Cathaoirleach ruled earlier on the question of adverting to Deputy Clare Daly's Private Member's Bill in the other House which was a direct assault on the dignity and rights of some very vulnerable children.