Rabbitte stands by pledge to provide 2,300 extra beds

LABOUR leader Pat Rabbitte last night said he was prepared to take over the job of Minister for Health, considered to be the poisoned chalice in government.

In surprising comments, Mr Rabbitte told reporters outside Cobh General Hospital that he would be willing to take over the portfolio. However, most observers are of the view that the position that the Labour leader will seek if the party goes into government will be the finance ministry.

But yesterday he said he would follow through with his promise of delivering 2,300 extra beds, as well as scrapping the plans for co-located hospitals.

It came on a day when the Government and main opposition parties bitterly disputed each others policies on how to improve the health service.

Fine Gael, in part of a wider attack on alleged broken promises by the Government, claimed that many of the promises made in the 2007 manifesto were ‘Groundhog Day’ promises.

Party deputy leader Richard Bruton homed in particularly on the health promises, with claims that Fianna Fáil and the PDs had failed to live up to their promise of providing 3,000 hospital beds.

However, Health Minister Mary Harney countered strongly with a scathing attack on the promise of Fine Gael and Labour to provide 2,300 beds in five years if returned to Government. She said it would be “impossible” to provide 2,300 beds in five years. She said the Government rate was 200 a year and that of the Rainbow was only 33 each year.

She said the fastest hospital project ever in Ireland was the building of the Beacon Hospital which took three years. She also argued her controversial co-location project would take over five years in all to achieve its goal of 1,000 beds.

However, the Fine Gael spokesperson dismissed this, claiming that Ms Harney was judging others on her own poor performance. He pointed to it being one of the key 14 promises of FG leader Enda Kenny.

The Health Minister also said that Fine Gael would be unable to source the funding for the 2,300 beds from the National Development Plan. She said that the €2.6bn earmarked was for the Mater Hospital, the new children’s hospital and a new national rehabilitation centre. They would cost €1.5bn with the balance going to provide 400 new hospital beds and upgrade existing hospitals.

However, Mr Bruton said that Fine Gael would prioritise €850m of that to provide 2,300 beds, irrespective of other priorities. This would be a core commitment.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin yesterday unveiled his party’s plans which he said would transform the health services. He called for free universal health care at the point of delivery.