John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. There is no doubt that our accident and emergency departments are facing significant challenges but it is rather bizarre to be lectured by Fianna Fáil on the issue. It is telling that when Senator MacSharry spoke, he made reference to the current Minister for Health and his predecessors but stopped just before he came to the architect of the HSE, the current leader of Fianna Fáil. Deputy Martin placed an un-reformed structure, the HSE, on top of an ailing system without making any provision for improvements in the service and that is probably the major cause of our current problems. In that context, it is unpleasant and unpalatable to me to be lectured by Fianna Fáil Members today, whose party was the architect of the problem.

Senator Byrne made several references to stealth and tricks in his contribution earlier. If Senator Byrne is correct in what he is saying, then the Minister is some tricky devil who was motivated by something other than public service to take the job ---