Gerry Adams
Question:4. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if the Cabinet committee on health has met since the budget. [47678/13]
View answerTuesday, 18 February 2014
Questions (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Micheál Martin
Question:5. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach the number of times the Cabinet committee on health has met since the October budget. [2190/14]
View answerGerry Adams
Question:6. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health last met. [2242/14]
View answerGerry Adams
Question:7. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach the number of times the Cabinet committee on health has met in the past 12 months. [2243/14]
View answer
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:8. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the most recent meeting of the Cabinet committee on health took place. [6348/14]
View answer
Joe Higgins
Question:9. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Taoiseach the last time the Cabinet committee on health met; and when it is scheduled to reconvene. [7496/14]
View answerOral answers (57 contributions)
As this is a statistical question, the supplementary questions should be based on that fact.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 9, inclusive, together.
In the past 12 months the Cabinet committee on health met nine times and has met on three occasions since the October budget. It last met on 20 January and is due to meet again next Monday, 24 February.
When the committee last met, was the issue of free GP care on the agenda? I am sure the Taoiseach is aware of the comments made by the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, who stated the Government's promised free GP care scheme might have charges attached. This runs contrary to the commitment of the Minister for Health that "free" will mean "free" and the commitment in the programme for Government to have universal primary care, whereby fees for GP care would be removed within the Government's term of office. Is the Taoiseach considering attaching a fee to the free GP scheme at the point of access? What might the fee be?
That is a matter for the Minister for Health. This question should be to the Minister for Health.
The Minister of State also said a fee was necessary in order that people would not go to their general practitioner too often.
Put a question to the Minister for Health on this issue.
Does the Taoiseach share that view? Is it his intention to attach a fee to the scheme for under-sixes, removing the-----
This is ridiculous.
I am conscious that it is a year since the apology the Taoiseach made to the women of the Magdalen laundries.
For goodness sake, Deputy, we are really straying. I am not allowing this. It is unfair to everybody else who has tabled a question in that we will never reach some questions. Question No. 33, for example, relates to a discussion that took place on 19 December and we have yet to get to it. We will never get to these questions if we stray into every matter concerning health and mortgages. I cannot allow it and it would be grossly unfair of me to do so. I direct the Deputy to the question asked by Deputy Gerry Adams, that is, when the health committee last met.
At that rate, the Taoiseach need simply to stand up and say the committee met six times.
Exactly. In that case, the Deputy will have received her answer to the question. This is Question Time; it is not a debate.
While this is not the Ceann Comhairle's fault, it is very restrictive.
I am seeking to ask a question.
Yes, but it must be related to the question tabled. The question sought the number of times the committee had met. It is not about policy. The Deputy is not entitled to ask about what went on at the committee.
The Taoiseach made the apology to the Magdalen women.
That has nothing to do with the question.
Commitments were made publicly in respect of the health of the women concerned, some of whom subsequently died. None of these commitments-----
In that case, the Deputy should table a question.
With respect, I am sick to my back teeth tabling parliamentary questions and being fobbed off on this issue.
The Deputy is not being fobbed off because the question is about the number of times the committee met.
I am putting it to the man who made the apology to the women concerned and who is on the front line in guaranteeing the commitments made to them are honoured. When precisely will these commitments be met, specifically in so far as they relate to health care? I trust that the Taoiseach can answer that question.
No; he cannot answer it.
Why can he not do so?
Because it is not in accordance with the Standing Orders of the House; it is as simple as that. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the number of times a committee had met and the Taoiseach answered.
The next question is by Deputy Micheál Martin and the same principle applies.
I have no doubt about that. The Taoiseach has stated the committee met nine times since the October budget. I believe he has said the committee is due to meet again in the next two weeks.
On 24 February.
There is a very acrimonious debate, through anonymous briefings in the media, between the Minister for Health and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on the forthcoming White Paper on health. When will the health committee of the Cabinet meet specifically to discuss this issue? Will it be meeting to ensure the White Paper will give specific details on how much individual families will have to pay under the new system? Will there be a specific meeting on that issue, given the acrimony between the two Ministers? As the Taoiseach knows, the Minister for Health is saying nobody will pay more, that everything will cost less and that services will be expanded. I do not believe anybody believes this. I would appreciate it if the Taoiseach gave me a straight answer.
The White Paper is due to be published in a couple of weeks. It will deal with the changes in the structures that are required to introduce universal health insurance. That will not happen overnight. The White Paper will not provide details of individual costings because what is involved here is the level of charges that might be applied by insurance companies in regard to health a couple of years hence. There are issues which are clear and must be discussed regarding cost containment, the level of subvention that will apply in respect of particular packages and the range of medical packages that will be on offer from the insurance companies. These are all complex matters to be discussed. When the White Paper is published it will not individualise costings per package, because that is work that must take place over the next 18 months to two years.
I can confirm that there were no acrimonious debates between Ministers. Obviously, this is a matter of fundamental importance for future health care and the delivery of health services for years in the future. It will be discussed not only at the Cabinet sub-committee but also by the Cabinet.
Will it be published in two weeks?
It will be published in a couple of weeks.
What does "a couple" mean?
A couple could mean three or four, perhaps. It will be within a few weeks.
An Irish couple.
The Taoiseach has been saying it will be a couple of weeks for the last few months.
Yes, I know.
It is a long couple.
The Deputy knows as well as I do that when one has the last full stop put in place, one finds there is another inclusion or addition to be made. It is a couple of weeks, but I can give the Deputy more up-to-date information about it later.
I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.
If the Taoiseach can answer that, he could answer my question.
A lot of work has been done in that respect. I advise the Deputy to send an e-mail.
The Deputy should put down a parliamentary question and she will get an answer.
You could have advised Deputy Martin of the same thing.
The question is not even in the Deputy's name. I am just obliging you.
That is very good of you, a Cheann Comhairle. Thank you so much. To oblige somebody elected to this House by allowing them to speak - it is magnificent.
I call Deputy Boyd Barrett. You should learn the rules of the House before being too smart with me, Deputy. If you wish to be smart with me, I will be twice as smart-----
The rules should be evenly applied.
Put down a motion for the Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
The Government's pre-election promises on health included free general practitioner, GP, care for all, universal health insurance, UHI, and dealing with the crisis in our accident and emergency departments. All of these promises appear to be in the process of being pushed over the horizon of the next general election and disappearing into smoke. Will the Taoiseach arrange for the sub-committee on health to have a discussion on whether it is the case that all the pre-election promises to sort out our crisis-ridden health service are being shunted off until after the next general election? Following that meeting, will he clarify whether that is the case for the Irish public and this House? Are those promises now being abandoned? The Government cannot even manage to implement the free GP care for children under five years of age, not to mind provide it to everybody, or to sort out the universal health insurance, given the row that appears to be erupting between the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister. After the next meeting of this sub-committee, will we get clarity on those matters? People need that clarity.
Part of the process of the introduction of UHI is the introduction of free GP cards for children under five years of age. It is the first part of the process. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy White, has been very diligent in pursuing that and, as has already been announced, €37 million was allocated for it this year. This is not disappearing into smoke and is not being shunted out beyond the horizon. I made it clear on many occasions that universal health insurance cannot be introduced until the end of the term of this Government because we must deal with all the issues mentioned in Deputy Martin's question, such as cost containment, demographics and the range of the medical packages that will be provided by the insurance companies.
Will it happen before the next general election?
That work is serious and ongoing. The White Paper on UHI will set out those structures. The work afterwards on the details, costings and range of medical care packages that will be provided by the insurance companies is a matter for very close scrutiny and consultation over the next two years. The Deputy should not be misled by what he might be reading. There is no intention of-----
I just seek clarity and a timeline.
-----resiling from what is a fundamental part of the programme for Government.
The Taoiseach's so-called fair care system and universal health insurance involves handing over inordinate power to private health insurers in our health service. When the Taoiseach produces his legislative proposals they will be hugely opposed by a substantial cohort of people in this country.
I have a short question. When the Cabinet sub-committee on health meets, does it meet on specific issues relating to the health service, or does it have an overall report in general at every meeting? I did not think the Minister for Social Protection, who is beside the Taoiseach, had become the Minister for Health now in an advisory capacity to the Taoiseach. At the next meeting of the committee, will the Taoiseach make a particular issue of the crisis in speech and language therapy for children? It is a huge issue on which we receive representations from distressed parents on a weekly basis. There are very serious issues with regard to the development of young children. Will the Taoiseach put that down as a matter of urgency for extra resources to ensure an immediate ending of the waiting lists?
Yes.
Well done.