Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am probably more effective where I am.

We need to have a health system that is functioning. It is never going to be perfect - I do not think there is a health system in the world that is perfect - but it needs to be properly funded. There should have been a minimum of €2 billion or €3 billion extra dedicated to health. The system has let down the health service by not funding it properly. Efficiencies need to be found, and I agree that to go €1.2 billion over budget is not acceptable and that there is a lot of waste. However, there are a lot of areas of health that are not funded in the way they should be. Women's health is certainly one of those.

We should not have to be here. Senator Pauline O'Reilly should not have been obliged to table this motion. In a modern, well-funded, successful First-World economy, we should not even be having this discussion. In the past two or three years, we have made significant progress on, for example, period poverty, a matter in respect of which Senator Clifford-Lee and others worked very hard. For the year and a half or whatever is left of this Government's term, can we just get this right? Can we just put in the money? No Senator should ever again have to put a motion like this before the Seanad. It should just be considered part of what happens in a democracy where we value people, where we treat people equally and where we look after people's health. This is a critical issue.

Again, well done to the Senator. She has my full support, not just today, but in any way that I can campaign within Government. We are only Senators but we still have a voice. Whatever needs to be done to get this over the line and not be in this situation going forward, that is what we need to do, and we need to commit to that.