Health service accountability dispute
The Leader and several Senators traded further accusations over funding, the HSE, and responsibility for past health policy decisions. The argument centred on whether Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil had excluded Senators from the health committee and on broader claims about the system's performance.
We will not do so. We have, however, seen the biggest budget increase in the history of the State. Despite what Senator Robbie Gallagher may think, when he was in government, Deputy Micheál Martin had a budget that was bigger than that available to Senator James Reilly when he was in the Department of Health. That is the fact. It is not an alternative fact or fake news. Deputy Micheál Martin ran out of the Department of Health as fast as his two legs would take him. Fianna Fáil did not take the health portfolio; rather, it put former Deputy Mary Harney in the Department.
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When is the last time the Leader looked in the mirror?
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When Fianna Fáil created the HSE, it added layers of bureaucracy. That is also part of its record. We would all like to see the HSE and those charged with running the health service held to account. As the Senator knows, there is political accountability, but there is no accountability on the part of those in the HSE and the hospital groups issued with money through a Vote by the Department and it is about time that they were held to account. As politicians, we are always held to account, rightly so. It is about time that those charged with running the health system were held to account.
I am not aware of what the Senator was referring to when his point about a piece of equipment. If he is happy to give me the details, I will pass them on to the Minister, but I have not heard that issue being raised before.
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If a plan was set out for how-----
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The other point Senator Colm Burke rightly made was that Fianna Fáil did not allow in the discussion on the future of health care-----
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It is about the importance of this House.
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At times the truth does hurt. Sinn Féin Members are for everything and against nothing, yet they were against Senators being members of the Committee on the Future of Healthcare.
