The Taoiseach says he will keep this under review. It is very simple. Girls aged 12 will either get this vaccination this year or not. Those with the means to get it can do so privately and those who do not will be put at risk. The announcement of this vaccination programme did not come out of thin air. It was announced by the Minister for Health and Children and has been withdrawn by her. There is a very simple solution — the Government can go ahead with this. It is not impossible to find the €10 million to allow this vaccination programme to go ahead. Finding the €10 million will not put the public finances into disarray. It amounts to approximately €500,000 across all Departments and everybody in this House knows those kind of savings and adjustments can and are found month in, month out by Departments in respect of a range of projects.

This is a political question. This is about the Taoiseach making a political decision to allow the vaccination programme to proceed and finding the means by which to do it. The Minister for Health and Children made the decision to announce this vaccination programme in the first place, and the decision to withdraw it. I want to ask about the Minister. At the weekend her party dissolved itself and she said her continuation as Minister for Health and Children is at the Taoiseach's discretion. I respect the Minister, Deputy Harney's integrity and ability, but as Minister for Health and Children she has not been a success. She was responsible for the establishment of the HSE to reform the health service. That has not worked.

Hear, hear.

She presided over the PPARS fiasco. She was supposed to produce 200,000 additional medical cards and instead she has removed automatic entitlement to the medical card from pensioners. She decided to withdraw this vaccination. The Minister's big idea for providing hospital beds was to turn hospitals into businesses and have them provided by the private sector through co-location. In 2005 she said co-location would fast-track the provision of hospital beds. Three years later we have none of the co-located hospitals, no additional bed, not a single brick laid on brick. On Sunday night the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy McGuinness let the cat out of the bag when he said there are some issues regarding funding from the banks and the provision of the co-located hospitals is in doubt.

The Taoiseach can solve the immunisation issue by making a political decision that would have agreement across the House, as Deputy Kenny has pointed out, and would relieve his backbenchers of the embarrassment and considerable personal difficulty of having to go up those steps and vote against it this evening.

The Deputy need not worry about that.

For how long will the Minister for Health and Children remain in her position? What are the funding difficulties regarding co-located hospitals to which Deputy McGuinness referred on Sunday night?

The Taoiseach has listened to Deputy Gilmore with respectful silence so I ask Members to respect the Taoiseach and allow him to reply without interruption.

If he does not shout.

The issue is how we ensure people are protected from getting cervical cancer. Providing a national screening programme is the first step in that effort. We are providing an extra €25 million next year to ensure that happens. We are providing another €15 million to ensure Professor Tom Keane has the proper treatment regimes in place in the centres of excellence he has been establishing. This is an effort to ensure many of the problems that have been highlighted in debates in the House as a result of the old system, which the Opposition seems to defend all the time, do not recur. Deputy Harney has an excellent record as Minister for Health and Children and has been opposed every step of the way by the Opposition in respect of any reform she has brought to the health service.

Hear, hear.

She has been opposed day in, day out by those who want to protect the status quo, the Opposition.

That is not true.

That is a fact.

If she had listened to the Opposition we would not be in this mess.

A new, radically improved consultants' contract has been brought forward. A new cancer control programme, which requires people to agree to go to adequate centres of excellence instead of having various cancer control programmes throughout the country, is working. Six months ago, it was vociferously opposed during a debate in this House——

It was opposed by Fianna Fáil backbenchers and Ministers as well.

——by every backbencher in both of the main parties on the other side of the House.

The facts cannot be dealt with by a hatchet.

Is the Taoiseach talking about the Minister of State, Deputy Devins?

The largest ever expansion of services for elderly people has taken place under this Minister for Health and Children.

What about the people who were sitting outside the gates of the Dáil?

Thousands of elderly people protested outside Leinster House.

New standards for nursing home care are being implemented. The Health Information and Quality Authority has been established. A fundamental change has been made to ensure that standards are set and enforced.

The Taoiseach should deal with the issue.

Means tests for medical cards have been made much easier.

How many new forms have been introduced by the Minister for Health and Children?

The number of medical cards in use has increased by hundreds of thousands since the Opposition parties were in office.

The Taoiseach should deal with the issue.

The Deputy should let him deal with the issues.

GP out-of-hours services have been opened in north Dublin. Accident and emergency services have been improved.

The Taoiseach is talking about the last century.

Waiting times have been lowered. When I was in the Department of Health and Children——

The Taoiseach is the man from Angola.

People had to wait for years, rather than months, under the stewardship of the Government formed by those opposite. The first ever programme of national hygiene audits has been implemented.

The Taoiseach should remove the Minister, Deputy Harney.

We have provided for the introduction of nurse prescribing. We have expanded the role of nurses to provide better patient services. We have modernised the regulation of the medical profession. The Minister and the Government as a whole can be proud of the many reforms which have been implemented in the face of opposition from the other side of the House, every step of the way.

Much of that opposition came from members of the Taoiseach's party.

The Opposition has no policy on health other than to maintain the status quo.

The Government does not have any policies.

That is its policy.

What about the medical cards?

As regards the question of budgetary discipline and the need for better policies and proper budgets——

What about the medical cards?

The Deputies on the other side of the House opposed every single——

What about the over 70s?

The Leader of the Opposition wants a stricter budget from his finance spokesman.

What about the over 70s?

I note that Deputy Bruton has not opened his mouth——

The Taoiseach should answer the question.

——since he said he wanted a 5.5% deficit, which would involve a further €2 billion of cuts.

Speak up, Richard.

Who is the fellow who——

We have to pay for the Government's incompetence.

They come in here every morning to oppose every economy we make.

Mouth away if you want.

They are talking out of both sides of their mouths incessantly.

You are a brave man, Richard.

I can sense the Government's desperation and panic.

You are a brave man.

What about a direct answer from the Taoiseach?

He should do the statistics justice.

What about the Minister who is blaming the Progressive Democrats?