The Taoiseach is reported as saying:
"With regard to this particular question of the formation of two new Ministries, in the Dáil on at least two occasions I indicated what the position was in this respect. There has been, as you know, a very strong public demand, and, I think you will admit, a very widespread demand, that there should be a Minister for Public Health. I do not know whether Senators are in favour of this being done or not, but there has been a strong demand and the Government has considered it. The view taken by the Government is that the situation at the present time makes it desirable that we should have this Ministry. There is contemplated a certain reorganisation, a certain extension of the public health services and to supervise this reorganisation and extension and also to administer the services when they have been reorganised, we think a Minister is necessary. I think it is right that I should point out what perhaps some may not realise, that there is a considerable difference between a Parliamentary Secretary and a Minister in matters of this kind. My opinion is that generally it is not a good practice to delegate, as we have done in the matter of public health, to a Parliamentary Secretary powers which almost take him outside the supervision of the Minister. When you do this, the Government as a whole, which has collective responsibility, has no way immediately of dealing with the Parliamentary Secretary. The Parliamentary Secretary is outside; he has in a sense a greater amount of liberty in a situation like that than the Minister. The Minister has to share the collective responsibility and is immediately responsible to the Government. He has to meet direct criticism which he would not probably hear if he were not coming to the Government meetings."
I have rather exceeded the limits which I had anticipated I should put on myself when I proposed to quote from what the Taoiseach said, but I quote the argument to indicate why important functions, such as would attach to a Minister of Health, cannot properly be delegated or handed over to a person who does not share in the collective responsibility that is borne and accepted by all members of the Cabinet.
The decision of the Government, as I have indicated, has been taken after full and mature consideration. I think the extracts from speeches, some made so far back as almost three years ago, indicate that a great deal of attention and very careful examination was given to this matter. If matters had proceeded as then planned, the publication of the White Paper would have preceded the establishment of the Department of Health. Deputies would then have had before them in advance a statement of the need for the new Ministry as well as an outline of the reforms which are proposed in the public health services. While it would not be possible for me, without encroaching very greatly on the time and consideration of the House, to go into the question as fully as the White Paper would have done, I propose at this stage to give a general outline of the circumstances in which reform of the public health service must be undertaken. This review, I trust, will also make it clear that the reform cannot be carried out satisfactorily except under the direction and inspiration of a new Minister, a Minister who will be concerned solely with all matters that directly and immediately affect the health of the individual and the community.
In treating of these matters, however, I should like to emphasise that I shall not attempt to set out in detail the precise proposals by which the reforms are to be effected, for, in regard to those, the new Minister for Health must have the last word with the Government and the first word with the House. I may say, however, that the measures themselves have been the subject of close consideration by the Government, so that very little time will be required by the Minister for Health and his advisers, to review the progress that has already been made and to submit definitive proposals to the Government for acceptance, preparatory to the publication of the White Paper.
Now as to the necessity for the new Department of Public Health. The Local Government Act, 1925, defined the duties of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health in relation to public health. According to that enactment, he was to secure the preparation, effective carrying out and co-ordination of measures conducive to the health of the people, including the prevention and cure of diseases, the treatment of physical and mental defects, the initiation and direction of research and the training of persons for health services. A similar but somewhat wider definition of Ministerial functions in relation to health is included in the Public Health Bill of 1945.
