Much more at stake than a minister’s future

HEALTH minister Mary Harney strikes me as a politician of conviction and integrity.

She wouldn’t jump and couldn’t be pushed because the numbers didn’t add up. Falling on her own sword was not an option. It would only show up previous ministers who failed to do so. Step forward, Martin Cullen, for one.

What is at stake here is much broader than the future of the Health Minister.

On the line is the ideology of the PDs and similar centre-right parties such as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

It is the trend of public-private ‘partnerships’ and the steady erosion of democracy by privatisation.

It is the failure to understand the ‘public’ in public transport and health. It is the constant drip-drip of taxpayers’ money into bottomless pits of middle management.

It is the encroachment on civil liberties courtesy of the statute book while the real legislation required to protect us and our surroundings remains unwritten or gathers dust.

It is driving a tolled motorway through the Tara Valley.

It is the legacy of corrupt planning and the promise of more to come.

But it is not out of a lack of respect for the lady in question that I would like to see her go.

Anybody who requests the health portfolio deserves a fair chance. I would like to see her go on the basis that it might mean the country could begin to turn the corner.

In the rush to squeeze every last cent out of the Celtic Tiger, we trampled every last shred of decency into the ground.

It is only when you experience real illness that you realise you don’t want a house, a car or a property portfolio to be proud of. You want a health service you can be proud of.

Sick people deserve better than this, as do the frontline staff, doctors and nurses who carry on, despite — not because of — the systems that are supposed to make all our lives better.

Declan Kenny

Mill Lane

Leixlip

Co Kildare