Harney the ‘wrecking ball’ of health service

SINN FÉIN TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin launched a stinging attack on Health Minister Mary Harney, describing her as the “wrecking ball” of the health service.

Mr Ó Caoláin, the Sinn Féin health spokesman and leader in the Dáil, said Ms Harney was implementing a series of so-called “savings” across the service that were in reality cutbacks.

“These cuts are a throwback to the dark days of the 1980s and have seen the tightening of the recruitment ban, reduction in services in many hospitals and removal of entire services from others,” he said.

“This is the roll-out of Minister Harney’s strategy, carefully concealed from the people during last year’s general election. It is affecting the care of patients as we speak and it has more to do with book-keeping than life-saving.”

Mr Ó Caoláin said PD leader Ms Harney’s partners in government, Fianna Fáil and the Greens, were equally culpable.

He has frequently argued in the past that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern should step down not because of the Mahon Tribunal revelations, but because of the condition of the health service.

Mr Ó Caoláin said the cutbacks were part of the increasing privatisation of the service, and mentioned the case of Susie Long.

Because she was a public patient, Ms Long had to wait seven months for a colonoscopy, and by the time she was diagnosed with bowel cancer in March 2006, her condition was terminal. She died last October.

“Before she died,” Mr Ó Caoláin said, “she summed up the position simply and clearly when she said: ‘I believe that people should be seen on the basis of how ill they are, of their symptoms, not on how much money they have.’

“We remember Susie and the many others like her who have died as a result of the scandalous inequality in our health services — and we pledge to end that inequality and create a truly equitable health service,” he added.