Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and commend him on his work. Senator Boyhan is right that the Minister has the most difficult job in government. I can testify to that as I chaired the Joint Committee on Health and Children for nearly five years.

Something in the Department of Health always causes me to worry. To be fair to the Minister, given that the health budget stands at €17 billion, there is something rotten in the state of Denmark. It is time the vested interests in the health sector were called out. Those who purport to advocate for them should make an honest observation about their role and what they are doing. Senator Boyhan is right that healthcare is about patients, those who needs treatment or to be seen to. There is a paralysis in the health service that has been caused by vested interests. There is €17 billion for health expenditure and €11 billion in capital investment. Can somebody explain to me why we have people on trolleys? The reason is vested interests and let us start calling them out.

We have had more reports on the reform of the health service than we have had Ministers for Health. To be fair to the current Minister, the Sláintecare report is a good one. The roadmap he has put forward for new regional health boards is a good one. I could list a heap of projects in Cork that are being funded or need to be funded. I welcome the new second hospital because the development will be transformative wherever it is located. My only request to the Minister is that we get this done. Let us stop the political gamesmanship in the HSE and the Department of Health and let us get this done.

To be fair to the Minister, he has driven many projects in Cork. Senator Murnane O'Connor made the very good point that the Minister gets the political blame for what goes wrong. Apportioning blame to him is unfair in many cases because money is not going from A to B to C within the HSE circle. It is about time we called all of this out. We are held to account politically. To be fair to Senator Swanick, who is a GP, he made a very impressive contribution in which he spoke about primary care and its importance. The HSE's capital plan provides investment in community hospitals that will be of immense benefit and will help to achieve what we all want, namely, to keep people at home and out of acute general hospitals, as bed blockers, where they have no place. Healthcare is about people and patients.It is not about the vested interests. I could have come in here and delivered the speech I prepared, welcomed projects in Cork such as the primary care centre for Douglas and called for particular measures, which are all very important. However, the fundamental problem with the health service is that it has been paralysed by vested interests with the consequence that delivery to patients in many areas is being affected, and that is a disgrace. The Minister has made himself accountable to the Seanad, the Lower House and the committees. The children's hospital will be his legacy because it will be built on his watch after 30 years of monumental failure and a lack of delivery on the vision of a children's hospital. When I was in Taiwan, I visited a children's hospital. I was envious that it had such a facility. The Minister will deliver the children's hospital.

I will make a very simplistic point on an issue referred to by Senator Lawlor. Some Senators may watch the "Room to Improve" television programme presented by Dermot Bannon which is broadcast on Sunday evenings. None of his projects comes in on budget. I had a job in my house priced over the summer. The price started at €30,000 - I was not building the Taj Mahal - and ended up at €50,000. I told the builder to get lost. Good luck to him. The price to knock a wall, put up a few beams and create a bit of light started at €30,000 and ended at €50,000. Let us get honest about this. Do we want to have a children's hospital? Do we want to come in here every day of the week complaining about the lack of a children's hospital? Let us get it done. Let us deliver it. The capital plan includes this investment. Let us do it for the patients of Ireland.