Government rushing into unwise spending

Christmas 2015 is upon us and the New Year is just around the corner.

Good news should be the order of the day and of the season, but the omens are not good.

The governing coalition, desperate for re-election, has made it clear that it intends to win this election, come what may.

To ensure that success is achieved, given the forces ranged against it, it still has to effectively ‘buy’ the support of the electorate.

In an effort it seems to show it has met its legislative commitments, it seeks to push through badly thought out legislation.

In that context, it looks like the builders’ representatives have persuaded the Environment Minister that reducing the permitted size of the smallest dwelling and by generally reducing standards will mean that there will be more, as well as cheaper, housing units.

Alan Kelly obviously never heard of that old adage ‘if you always do what you always did you always get what you always got’.

He is trying to address the housing crisis but following in the footsteps of the previous government is definitely not the answer.

We should never forget that in today’s world, although it may sound cynical, greed will virtually always triumph over need.

In the past, when government tried to stimulate the house building market by giving supports or tax reductions, the builders simply jacked up the price to increase their profits.

Among other things it was a major contributor to the negative equity and the house repossessions that many of our citizens now have to endure.

In any event, one can only wonder how Mr Kelly believes that someone could live in a studio apartment that is likely to be only slighter bigger than his ministerial office.

But, I suppose, he has to be seen to be doing something.

Meanwhile, pouring money into the Health Services Executive is no guarantee that services will improve or that the use of trolleys in emergency wards will be reduced.

The lack of financial resources has always been acclaimed from the roof tops as the single main reason we have a dysfunctional health service that is not, for all intents and purposes fit for purpose.

Pouring money into the HSE will have the same effect as providing supports to house buyers.

Like giving builders the opportunity to make more money, it will mean that the myriad of vested interests that control the HSE will see that there is more money available and therefore more money to be shared out amongst their members.

As it stands, the HSE is like a big bottomless black hole in the ground — the more you pour in, the quicker it vanishes.

We really have to wonder why the HSE always seems to have major difficulties recruiting doctors and nurses.

Contrary to popular belief Irish doctors are, generally speaking, better off than those in many other countries across the world and the EU, in particular.

The lessons are many.

The current debacle of approving most of the Christmas holiday requests for the ambulance service without taking into account the required cover during the holiday season is just a case in point.

There are many other more serious incidents where the reports completed simply lie on shelves gathering dust, while nobody learns any lessons and then the same thing happens again.

Fortunately, there are very many good things about the HSE.

There are tens of thousands of its employees who are conscientious, hard working and who are driven to care for their patients, despite the obstacles put in their way.

And yes, there is a small minority who are careerists, bad workers, incapable, incompetents and worse.

This is true of very many organisations but few of these are as life mission critical as is the HSE.

We need a well-funded and effective health service.

But before the Government allows itself to be persuaded, for short term electoral gain, to further bankroll the HSE, it should ensure that there is a root and branch analysis of what exactly goes on inside the HSE and weed out anything that makes no sense or derives no additional benefit to the patients or to the taxpayer.

In the meantime wishing you all the very best for Christmas but don’t overdo it.