Oireachtas Report – Health crisis sweeps Fine Gael and Pearse’s €9billion question

Gerry Adams

BY CATHY POWER

THE ISSUE OF THE PAST WEEK was Roscommon Hospital A&E but Tuesday morning’s Questions to An Taoiseach began with party leader Gerry Adams TD asking about a report on the Programme for Government, as promised.

The Taoiseach replied that a report of the first 100 days had been posted on his department’s website and an annual report would follow, to which Gerry Adams replied:

It is not good enough to issue an annual report. Sinn Féin has prepared a report on the Government’s first 100 days in office which itemises 50 failures.

The Government has broken promises made by Fine Gael and, ironically, has kept promises made by Fianna Fáil to pay big bankers and fund toxic banks, etc.

Will the annual report include information on the U-turns made and failures to keep promises made in the programme for Government?

He asked if the Taoiseach’s party would support the Sinn Féin motion on the health services later that evening, to which he did not receive a reply.

Later on Tuesday, Gerry Adams raised the question of citizens’ access to health services:

This format [Dáil debate] does not allow a deep penetration and discussion about some of these issues and underlying it is a deeply important philosophical question about the core values of this State. There was a time when the great and the good judged this Republic by how many millionaires we had and people are still scandalised.

Every day we hear about HSE and other State agency executives being given large hand-outs. If we are to judge public services by the fact that a child could not be flown to Britain to get a transplant or that people who live in certain parts of this State will not have access to accident and emergency departments and that from next Monday, 11 July, the Government will have closed down or withdrawn many of those accident and emergency services, this is the core issue.

A society must be built around these fundamental issues. From the cradle to the grave, wraparound health services must be a fundamental core value of this society. If this Government were to pledge itself to work to this core value, then it would find that people would support the Government in a real way when it tries to measure out the pain we are told all of us must suffer. Only a certain section of people are suffering that type of pain.

Pearse Doherty challenges Finance Minister on mortgage rate increases

Pearse Doherty TD asked Minister for Finance Michael Noonan TD if he was “directing the banks to reduce their costs" in order that they will be able to forgo the 0.25% increase?

Has he asked any of the relevant banks, as provided for in the programme for Government, to reduce its costs sufficiently so as to ensure the interest rate increase will be absorbed within the bank structures, thus relieving the concern of the 200,000 people concerned about the forthcoming announcement?

Pearse Doherty asked the question three times, insisting on an answer before, eventually, Michael Noonan TD said:

The restructuring of the banks has not yet been completed. The process is under way. We hope to have the banks fully recapitalised by the end of July, following which they will be in a position to provide better credit lines for customers.

Also, as I stated, there will be redundancy programmes in the banks. When all of this has been done, the cost base of the banks will have been reduced and they will be in a position to offer a more cost effective service to all of their customers, including those with mortgages.

In other word, no, the minister has not done anything to protect or help people in mortgage arrears.

Pearse Doherty's €9billion question makes headlines

Pearse Doherty

This was the question asked by Pearse Doherty TD on Tuesday, which made front-page news in national papers on Wednesday morning:

The Exchequer figures yesterday showed that just over 20% of all taxes collected in the State are now needed to pay off the interest on our national debt and that figure is about to increase given the figure for servicing the interest on our national debt is €5.2billion this year and will increase to €9.2billion by 2015.

We often talk about figures when dealing with questions in the House, which is important, but there is also the question of fairness. Given this increase, does the Minister believe it is fair that our European partners are profiting by more than €9billion as a result of our hardship and as a result of decisions this Government and the previous Government have taken to bail out bankers?

In response, Noonan said:

It is very fair to say that when we talk about a bailout for Ireland, or indeed Greece or Portugal, we are not talking about grant-in-aid. We are getting a facility to borrow money and we are paying a very high interest charge on it. We are not in receipt of charity or of grant-in-aid. It is simply a loan facility to keep us going when we could not raise money on the markets, and the interest rate is very high.

Sinn Féin Private Members’ Motion provokes break in Government ranks

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

The PMM on health services was debated in the Dáil on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The Sinn Féin members all spoke on the issue and each one highlighted a different aspect of the crisis, with each focusing on their own area and the cutbacks there.

On Wednesday night the motion was defeated in a Dáil vote but provoked the breaking of Government ranks with Roscommon deputy Denis Naughten of Fine Gael voting in favour of the Sinn Féin motion.

He was removed from the Fine Gael parliamentary party the following day.

After the Dáil session finished on Wednesday night, Sinn Féin TDs went straight out of Leinster House to join protesters from Roscommon on Kildare Street.

The party health spokesperson, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD addressed the crowd in the street. He told them that the areas mobilising to defend their health services would have to unite into a broad movement to be strong enough to fight the savage cuts being imposed by the Government.

Other issues

Other bills debated in the Dáil this week were: the Electoral Amendment Bill 2011 the Foreshore (Amendment) Bill, the Finance Bill and the Medical Practitioners’ (Amendment) Bill.