Martin running scared of Health since he handed it over to Mary Harney – Varadkar

Mícheál Martin has been running scared of the Department of Health since he handed it over to Mary Harney in 2004, and so it is no surprise that Fianna Fáil is incapable of any joined-up thinking about our health service”, says Minister for Health and Fine Gael TD for Dublin West, Leo Varadkar.

“Fianna Fáil were delighted when Mary Harney volunteered to become Health Minister after Mícheál Martin’s own stint in the role.

“They were more than happy to let her stay on in Health even when she became an Independent TD after her own Party ceased to exist. Had it been any other Ministry, Fianna Fáil backbenchers would have pushed her out of the way quicker than you can say ‘Ministerial Merc’, a culture this Government brought to a swift end.

“Fianna Fáil’s record in Health speaks for itself. Micheal Martin promised to end waiting lists permanently within two years and provide enough hospital beds to meet demand. Then he set up the HSE and we all know what happened after that. Out-patient waiting times became so bad he refused to publish them.

“Fianna Fail in government, during boom times, took 1,250 acute hospital beds out of the health service while promising the opposite. I have reversed that policy by putting 200-300 back with more to come.

“The real legacy of Martin’s career in health is the €100 million PPARS IT system which didn’t work, and which has crippled IT spending in the health service ever since.

“Now Fianna Fáil cling to their old failed Health policies. They are determined to protect their white elephant, the HSE, and they want to reverse the plans of the current Government’s to dismantle it and radically reform our health system. They have no new plans for Health at all.

“Billy Kelleher likes to talk a lot about Emergency Department (ED) overcrowding and it is certainly a serious problem that the Government has been tackling. However the alternative budget for 2015 proposed by Fianna Fáil allocated no extra funding for ED pressures. Compare that to Fine Gael which has already provided €117 million in extra resources to reduce ED overcrowding, and a further €51 million to reduce waiting lists over the last year. Perhaps Billy remembers Mícheál Martin’s response to the same problem during his disastrous time as Health Minister – to criticise hospitals for not ordering enough hospital trollies.

“Mícheál Martin has clearly spent as little time as possible thinking about health issues, since fleeing the Department of Health in 2004. After all, Fianna Fáil completely forgot about the Lansdowne Road agreement when putting together their alternative Health Budget. Their published spending plans have no proposals for pay restoration for nurses, young doctors, ambulance drivers, paramedics and therapists. Are they actually planning to renege on pay agreements for these sectors? Or was it an oversight? Deputy Martin should move to clarify this immediately.

“Fine Gael’s Long Term Economic Plan will create 200,000 extra jobs by 2020, and the resulting additional resources to the State will allow us to invest in better public services like health. Our plan to keep the recovery going will ensure a better quality of life for all, and an improved health service is at the very top of this agenda.