31 May 2001 Edition
Crowe calls for social investment
Isn't it great that the Dublin government realised last week what the Irish public have known for more than the last decade - that the 26-County healthcare system is in crisis and suffering from years of systematic and deliberate underfunding. The cabinet sat through a day's meeting in the Ballymascanlon Hotel in Louth to be given an extensive overview of the state of the public health service.
So what did the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrat ministers hear that was so shocking? First off was the cost of redressing years of underspending. Another £2 billion should be spent on day to day costs this year. That is on top of the £5 billion already earmarked.
An additional 9,500 hospital beds are needed to deal with a growing and ageing population. As it stands now, 43% of adults waiting for medical treatment have been on a waiting list for over a year, while 74% of children sent for a medical procedure have to wait more than six months for treatment.
In 1970, Irish males could expect to live a year longer than the EU average, but now Irish males are dying a year earlier on average than the EU norm.
Health spending was not the only issue to be put on the Dublin government agenda this week. Sinn Féin councillor Sean Crowe called on the Dublin government to put social spending and investment at the top of the agenda for budget 2002.
Councillor Crowe who was attending the Combat Poverty Agency's conference on narrowing the gap between rich and poor said, ``The presentations and debate at the conference clearly made the case for increasing social spending as a strategy to tackle poverty. We should not just think of allocating these funds as merely extra spending on health, education, housing and social welfare payments, we should instead think of it as a positive investment.
``The Combat Poverty Agency's new publication on tackling inequality in Ireland, titled Rich and Poor, is a powerful indictment of the inequalities in Irish society today. The Ireland of the last decade has seen immense economic growth. We have more cars, more houses, more income and more spending for some. We have also become the most unequal society in Europe.
``Taken with the disclosures last week of massive under funding in the health service, the Combat Poverty study points to a need for the Dublin government to refocus their attitude to spending.
``A better housed, better fed, better educated, healthier and better paid society will over the long run save future social spending by creating more jobs, and more wealth. We have an unprecedented opportunity to invest in our future. Lets not waste it!''
So what did the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrat ministers hear that was so shocking? First off was the cost of redressing years of underspending. Another £2 billion should be spent on day to day costs this year. That is on top of the £5 billion already earmarked.
An additional 9,500 hospital beds are needed to deal with a growing and ageing population. As it stands now, 43% of adults waiting for medical treatment have been on a waiting list for over a year, while 74% of children sent for a medical procedure have to wait more than six months for treatment.
In 1970, Irish males could expect to live a year longer than the EU average, but now Irish males are dying a year earlier on average than the EU norm.
Health spending was not the only issue to be put on the Dublin government agenda this week. Sinn Féin councillor Sean Crowe called on the Dublin government to put social spending and investment at the top of the agenda for budget 2002.
Councillor Crowe who was attending the Combat Poverty Agency's conference on narrowing the gap between rich and poor said, ``The presentations and debate at the conference clearly made the case for increasing social spending as a strategy to tackle poverty. We should not just think of allocating these funds as merely extra spending on health, education, housing and social welfare payments, we should instead think of it as a positive investment.
``The Combat Poverty Agency's new publication on tackling inequality in Ireland, titled Rich and Poor, is a powerful indictment of the inequalities in Irish society today. The Ireland of the last decade has seen immense economic growth. We have more cars, more houses, more income and more spending for some. We have also become the most unequal society in Europe.
``Taken with the disclosures last week of massive under funding in the health service, the Combat Poverty study points to a need for the Dublin government to refocus their attitude to spending.
``A better housed, better fed, better educated, healthier and better paid society will over the long run save future social spending by creating more jobs, and more wealth. We have an unprecedented opportunity to invest in our future. Lets not waste it!''