Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 26 Feb 2003

Vol. 562 No. 2

Leaders' Questions.

Mr. Kenny

Will the Taoiseach justify to the House and country the decision to spend in excess of €50 million on the purchase of a new Government jet at a time of great economic uncertainty and austerity? It is a time when primary schools are being run down, accident and emergency wards are dilapidated, the extra gardaí promised to fight crime have not arrived, many carers are struggling to cope and our cities are grinding to a halt. Every week brings new killings, assaults and thefts and new revelations about our crumbling health service, and confirms that the nation was conned last May.

Perhaps the Taoiseach thinks that was worth it because he and the Government can forget about betraying the people while sitting in leather-lined seats and gilded jacuzzis at 30,000 feet. Up there, he will not have to worry about rat-infested school buildings, sick people without hospital beds or the scandal of homelessness which blights our towns and cities. This happens while the Taoiseach and Government preach austerity to the rest of us. Is the nation to tighten its belt while the Government wraps a €50 million Charvet shirt around itself?

Mr. M. Smith

This is nonsense.

Mr. Kenny

The Taoiseach should justify to the House and country the Government decision to spend this money on itself rather than on the people.

Mr. Cregan

There are a lot of votes in that.

The Taoiseach

Deputy Kenny raised a number of questions. On crime, the Government's achievement in bringing the number of gardaí to an all-time high of approximately 11,900—

Mr. McGinley

There is a murder every day. Dublin is the murder capital of Europe.

An Ceann Comhairle

Allow the Taoiseach to reply, please.

The Taoiseach

This is a huge increase in the level of Garda resources.

Mr. McGinley

It is not safe to walk the streets of Dublin.

An Ceann Comhairle

This is Leaders' Questions.

The Taoiseach

We have moved from providing €599 million to almost €1 billion to the Garda Síochána. I congratulate the Garda on the excellent job being done to deal with crime, although I accept that there is crime and drug related crime. The Government's national drugs strategy for the coming years has been set out and builds on experience in this area.

On the health services—

Mr. Allen

The health services are crumbling.

The Taoiseach

—the Government has brought in the biggest ever capital programme, including 700 additional beds—

Mr. Crawford

In what hospital?

The Taoiseach

—and 11,000 additional staff. The Government continues to provide extra resources. Deputy Kenny asked about the schools building programme. Over €330 million has been put into the education system.

Mr. J. O'Keeffe

No jury would accept that defence.

The Taoiseach

The Deputy also asked about the Government decision to look at the most feasible way of dealing with the ministerial aircraft service. Two aircraft are currently used, the Beechcraft which is over 15 years old and has not been much in use in recent years, and the GIV which was leased for a decade and bought some years ago. The overall cost of the GIV, between leasing arrangements and the buy-out cost of €9 million, was over €40 million. Several issues must be considered with regard to the ministerial aircraft which, because of age, landings and miles travelled, needed to be changed.

Ireland will hold the EU Presidency next year and 25 countries will be involved in that. This is the most globalised country in the world with regard to trade, according to the recent A T Kearney globalisation report, and is one of the biggest exporters in the world. Ireland depends on trade and exports, and on travel as a means to talk to our trading partners.

The Government considered the best possible means of disposing of the additional aircraft. It was decided to dispose to the smaller seven-seat Beechcraft in 2001 but the market conditions were not right at that time. They are right now because the global situation means that there are thousands of aircraft on the ground. The cost of a new GIV has been considered but the best way to do this has not been decided, whether to buy outright, lease or make lease-purchase arrangements. The NDFA, with the experts in the Department of Defence, will consider the matter.

We will have to deal with 4,000 meetings during the Irish EU Presidency next year, including over 50 Council meetings. The Government will find the most cost-effective way of doing this and I look forward to that.

Ms O. Mitchell

There is nothing like a straight answer to a straight question.

Mr. Kenny

I have never heard so much waffle in my life. The Taoiseach justifies this on grounds of age, landings and the amount of miles. None of these justifications was given by the Minister for Defence this morning in a most arrogant contribution to the nation. He spoke about being practical and pragmatic, and about trade missions and the world trade talks.

Mr. M. Smith

Exactly.

Mr. Kenny

I co-chaired those in 1996 and flew commercial airlines to Singapore, in the same way that every other Minister did. A €50 million jet is not necessary to go to the world trade talks.

Mr. M. Smith

The Deputy does not know that.

Mr. Kenny

Entrepreneurs are not brought on Government jets to trade missions, they go courtesy of Enterprise Ireland or IDA Ireland, as it was known. The Taoiseach has not explained the options, whether air taxi, the lease of a jet from a commercial airline or another source. Will he publish the interdepartmental report given to him in respect of this matter? If something is broken down, one fixes it and gets on with that.

Mr. Cullen

The Deputy should start by sorting out Fine Gael.

Mr. D. Ahern

He might be hoping for a few by-elections.

Mr. Kenny

The health service has been broken down for 15 years and the Government has done nothing about it.

(Interruptions).

An Ceann Comhairle

Allow Deputy Kenny to conclude.

Mr. Kenny

Patients must make a 400 mile round trip for radiotherapy and cancer patients are waiting for hospital beds. Some children have to wait eight years for treatment.

(Interruptions).

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputy Kenny is out of order. He has gone well over the minute allotted under the Standing Order.

Mr. Kenny

This is a most arrogant Government.

The Taoiseach

A sum of €5.4 billion is being spent this year on the capital programme, including €1.4 billion on roads, €500 million each on education and health—

Mr. Connaughton

What of the disabled person's grant? This is an insult.

The Taoiseach

—and almost €1 billion on environmental infrastructure.

Mr. Crawford

The Taoiseach's friends are doing well.

The Taoiseach

When the GIV was leased and purchased, it cost about €44 million. That is a 14-seat aircraft but there is a problem in that it cannot operate at full fuel capacity when there are 14 passengers aboard. The more people on it, the less fuel it carries and the more stop-overs it must make.

Mr. Allen

That is terrible.

A Deputy

The Opposition can laugh but that is the reality.

An Ceann Comhairle

Allow the Taoiseach to speak without interruption.

The Taoiseach

Increased landings affect the condition of the aircraft.

Mr. J. Higgins

The Taoiseach should ask Hans Blix to have a look at it.

The Taoiseach

A 45-seat aircraft can be purchased for approximately €40 million.

Mr. Rabbitte

The Emperor Bokassa had 45 of them.

The Taoiseach

The Government has not yet decided whether the aircraft will be leased, purchased outright, purchased second hand or otherwise. The options will be considered. I assure the House and, most importantly, the public, because the House is not too interested, that we will proceed in the most cost-effective manner possible.

Mr. J. O'Keeffe

Will the Taoiseach consult Michael O'Leary of Ryanair? He will provide a low cost solution.

An Ceann Comhairle

Only the leaders of the three groups are entitled to submit a question to the Taoiseach. I call Deputy Rabbitte.

Mr. Rabbitte

Is the Taoiseach aware that the management at Dublin hospitals must now resort to desperate measures to cut costs? I refer him to a confidential memorandum circulated by the chief executive of one Dublin hospital to senior staff stipulating that he is required to cut his costs by 10%, or €20 million. His senior staff are engaged in discussions with the EHRA to consider how this money will be saved and the following measures are proposed: the capping of cancer and dialysis treatment, which will place people's lives at serious risk; the closing down of the night dialysis shift, which will deprive patients of life-saving care; the closure of 35 more beds from April, which is the equivalent of a full ward; and major savings by eliminating the use of certain medical devices, thereby running the risk of increasing the mortality rate after certain treatments.

Is the Taoiseach aware that the hospital has been forced to consider additional cost-saving measures, including returning patients to the hospital from step-down facilities in nursing homes, thereby filling hospital beds with people who do not require treatment? Is he also aware of this confidential memorandum and that, to the best of my knowledge, it is being replicated in two other Dublin hospitals?

The Taoiseach

I am aware that under their financial and service arrangements and in compliance with the terms of the 1996 Act, all hospitals must have ensured by January this year that their service requirements are within their cost allocations for 2003. They have all complied. I am not aware of the so-called confidential internal document to which the Deputy refers. If it was confidential and internal it would not have found its way to the Deputy.

Mr. Rabbitte

There is little in the document that is confidential for Fianna Fáil.

The Taoiseach

All hospitals work on a confidential basis within the hospitals system and under the relevant sections in the Department of Health and Children. This is an annual exercise. The overall position is that 96,000 people are employed in the health service and there has been an enormous increase in all areas of staffing.

Ms McManus

This is ridiculous.

Mr. Allen

Some 30,000 people are still on waiting lists.

An Ceann Comhairle

Allow the Taoiseach to respond without interruption.

The Taoiseach

Over 700 additional beds have been provided and an additional €29 million in funding has been allocated to cancer treatment services. Total additional Government spending in this area is €131 million. This year, the Minister for Health and Children has provided additional resources to all areas of the health services, including consultants, nurses, paramedics and junior doctors.

Given the enormous increases in funding, those involved in providing health services must manage their resources. The allocation provided this year should be more than adequate in this regard. There have been huge increases on previous years. Those involved should address their difficulties in the normal way, through the EHRA and the Department, with whom they are in discussion. It will not help the position of those managers who seek to get advertisements for their dilemmas. I am sure they are dealing with the EHRA and the Department, and they should continue to do so. The manager in question does not need Deputy Rabbitte to help him.

Mr. Rabbitte

I do not apologise for irritating the Taoiseach. Should he wish, I will provide him with a copy of the memorandum. The case is Beaumont Hospital. The Taoiseach's waffling does little for patients suffering from kidney failure or to address problems arising from the capping of expenditure on cancer treatment facilities.

This situation is unprecedented and it affects three hospitals. The Taoiseach has the audacity to blame the managers at a time when he has imposed a cap on their spending. At the same time he is sending the Minister for Defence to the marketplace to procure a fleet of jets. When he gets his bargain basement prices it would not be surprising if the Minister does not also get a helicopter for the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Deputy Treacy.

How can the Taoiseach justify his position when yesterday a patient discharged himself after spending five days on a trolley in a hospital? He was charged €200 for the privilege of not being attended to. This case illustrates the state of the health services, yet the Taoiseach blames the managers.

The Taoiseach

There is no basis whatsoever for any curtailment of cancer treatment procedures. That has been confirmed by the Department of Health and Children. This year it has provided €29 million in addition to an earlier allocation of €31 million for these services. It is cheap for somebody to seek to create a commotion by giving Deputy Rabbitte an internal report that is highly confidential. It is not the correct way to proceed.

Ms McManus

Shame on the Taoiseach.

The Taoiseach

Yesterday, the Minister for Health and Children repeated his often stated acceptance that there are capacity constraints at Beaumont Hospital and all other major acute hospitals. Under the Government's bed capacity initiative, an additional 35 beds are being provided to Beaumont Hospital and the Department of Health and Children has been informed they will shortly be commissioned. It will help to alleviate some of the capacity constraints at the hospital.

Pressure on the acute hospital system increases over the winter months. In recent years, funding has been provided for the contracting of additional places in private nursing homes. A major €27 million refurbishment programme, initiated through the Department and funded through the EHRA, is currently under way at Beaumont Hospital, which will provide it with a greatly enhanced environment. I am pleased Deputy Rabbitte identified the hospital as it has given me the opportunity to inform the House of this new development.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

The Taoiseach will be aware that An Agreed Programme for Government refers to helping all children to develop to their full potential. Will he indicate how this can be possible in the case of a child aged seven and a half years with autism who has not received speech or occupational therapy for two years? He is one of 50 children whose parents were obliged to protest on Monday outside the offices of the North-Eastern Health Board in Kells.

Is the Taoiseach aware that from today, children at St. Mark's national school, Tallaght, will protest outside the Dáil because their two special language classes have been without speech therapists for some time? No advertisements have been placed to fill the posts. The INTO has said it should be a cause of national embarrassment that parents of children with special needs have to protest outside health board offices and the Parliament to demand the resources their children need.

Will the Taoiseach, as a matter of urgency, raise with the Minister for Health and Children and the Minister for Education and Science these major deficiencies in the provision of care for children with special needs? Will he also undertake to provide the necessary resources to ensure and increase the supply of qualified health professionals? Will he consider the establishment of a national speech and language therapy service to help children with special needs to reach their full potential, as An Agreed Programme for Government commits?

The Taoiseach

I am aware that over recent years there has been a lack of staff, especially in the areas of autism and special needs. For that reason, the last Government and this one have increased dramatically the number of special needs teachers by over 1,000. I am not saying that fulfils the needs of every school. There has been an enormous increase in the service within schools and communities and in the national service.

As has been pointed out, there are still some major difficulties regarding people with intellectual disabilities in school care, residential care and home care, which I acknowledge. This year, given a difficult capital programme, the Government endeavoured to deal with that on the capital, pay and non-pay sides. We have provided over 1,500 new day care places in recent years. Many non-residential places have also been created.

I have met a number of the groups associated with autism, not those the Deputy mentioned, and we will continue to try to deal with the matter. The Deputy would admit that, in the past three or four years in particular, the increases in resources, staff, equipment and structures for children with autism have been enormous. I will take on board the concerns of the Deputy and others to try to continue to increase the number of places for children with autism.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

I cannot acknowledge the Taoiseach's response that there has been a significant improvement in the provision of resources for children with special needs in the past two or three years. The reality denies that claim. The families who protested outside the North-Eastern Health Board offices on Monday, and those who will protest outside this House today, will find it impossible to recognise the picture the Taoiseach painted in his reply. I ask the Taoiseach again to affirm that he will take the necessary action and intervene to prompt both the Ministers for Education and Science and Health and Children to address the issue of special needs.

We are talking about resources for children. Just to show how mean-spirited and penny-pinching is the current attitude towards children, I refer to the decision of the Minister for Education and Science to stop completely the physical education and sports grant, which amounted to a mere €2.5 million.

An Ceann Comhairle

Only one question is allowed.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

This is related in terms of resources for children across the board. Will the Taoiseach address that and ensure that such a paltry sum is restored to children for their physical well-being?

The Taoiseach

There are almost 1,000 teachers dealing with autism. Additionally, there are 3,500 special needs assistants working in classrooms. The Deputy will acknowledge that that represents a huge increase over a short period because we came from a position in which there were hardly any special needs teachers or assistants. Both Deputies Martin and Woods, as Minister and former Minister for Health and Children, changed that quickly. There were under 100 special needs teachers in the State and they increased this number to over 1,000; they also increased the number of special needs assistants to 3,500.

In addition, an enormous number of extra training places were provided in the fields of physiotherapy, speech and language training and occupational therapy. Many of the relevant issues in this respect are addressed on a statutory basis in the Education for Persons with Disabilities Bill. Discussion have been ongoing with the organisations dealing with disabilities groups. They have outlined what they would like to see in the legislation. They have also acknowledged the huge increases and have made 68 submissions the content of which they want reflected in the Act.

I acknowledge that sufficient resources do not exist in every part of country because we have moved from having little or nothing four years ago. We shall continue to make progress but we should acknowledge what has been achieved.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

What about physical education and sports grants?