Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here today. First and foremost, I do not believe the Government is answerable for everything. The Government puts resources into the health services and it is up to the health services to deliver. Quite frankly, it is very difficult to understand how we find ourselves in the situations we end up in with the health service. There is money being pumped into it but services are not being delivered.

This Bill was brought forward by my colleague, Senator McDowell, out of compassion more than anything else for suffering children and families. It is totally and utterly beyond comprehension that we have allowed a situation to arise whereby children are suffocating because their spine is forcing them into a position where their lungs and heart are under pressure all of the time. When I say "we", I am talking about the citizens of Ireland. The Health Service Executive is answerable to the Government. It is rather sad that we have to bring in a Bill on one specific health issue. Are we going to have to bring in another Bill in the very near future on some other condition, such as cystic fibrosis? The truth of the matter is that the Health Service Executive must be made answerable far more frequently for the resources it is being provided with and how it uses those resources.

I have said the following to a Minister about another area. The officials, the HSE and various other organisations make decisions and the Minister gets fired if they are wrong. That is simply not good enough. We have now been told that there are consulting rooms in the national children's hospital that wheelchairs cannot get into. If that is true, it is going to be absolutely desperate for these families.

This Bill has been brought forward to put a focus on the issue of scoliosis. If we really wanted, we could pass this Bill in the Seanad next week and get it through the Dáil as quickly as possible. I hope that, in accepting the Bill, we are not giving false hope to the parents and children who are suffering that something is going to be done. It really is something that we must see quick action on.

As my colleagues Senators Boyhan and McDowell have said, I really appreciate the fact that the Minister for Health came here to take the debate himself. I also appreciate the fact that he is accepting the Bill but I would like the Bill to progress quickly and give hope to those families.