Health U-turn - Failure of leadership to blame

It would be wrong to blame the Government’s crass handling of the controversy over savage health cuts solely on ministerial ineptitude.

This matter goes much deeper and must be attributed to a chronic failure of leadership on the part of Taoiseach Enda Kenny. If he had been firmly in control of his government, there would be no need for its humiliating U-turn on cuts to personal assistants for disabled people, because the outrageous proposal should never have been put on the table in the first place.

Nor would the Fine Gael–Labour coalition be in the firing line over equally unacceptable cuts to home care and home help packages, proposals that should also be reversed. It appears this Government has conveniently forgotten its election pledge to protect the needy.

There could hardly be a more damning indictment of Labour, which regards itself as the conscience of an increasingly unstable administration. A claim, yet to be verified, depicts the junior partner as being kept in the dark about contentious policy decisions on health.

It took the spectacle of disabled people protesting outside Government Buildings to force an increasingly unpopular Health Minister, James Reilly, into rowing back on a programme of grossly unfair cutbacks. While the proposals may have been drawn up by the HSE as part of a €130m package of cuts, Dr Reilly must accept full responsibility for this harsh strategy.

Further illustrating the lack of leadership at the highest level, it seems the partial U-turn on proposed cuts was not “ordered” by the Cabinet. Instead, according to Education Minister Ruairí Quinn, the decision was made by Dr Reilly himself.

Arguably, however, it should have been made collectively by Cabinet and announced by the Taoiseach. At least that would create the impression of leadership in a situation which has seriously undermined relations between the coalition partners.

Worse, it has caused unnecessary worry to many hard-pressed families up and down the country.

Disabled people are now so distrustful of this Government that they persisted with their protest throughout a cold night in order to secure a written guarantee from the HSE that the cuts to personal assistants for victims of disability would not proceed. The protest was only called off when confirmation of the reversal was sent by email to the Disability Federation of Ireland.

What does this debacle say about the political vision and judgment of a government which increasingly takes the easy option by cracking down on those who can least afford it? Not much. Dr Reilly would be better occupied reducing the exorbitant cost of generic medicine and pursuing elite consultants who can earn €250 or more for a 15-minute examination.

It will be a dark day for society’s most vulnerable if the measures taken against them reflect how this Government intends resolving the country’s financial crisis. Mr Kenny can no longer blame the edicts of the troika for the undue severity of ministerial policies.

That is the uncompromising yardstick against which the Taoiseach and his government will ultimately be judged by any angry electorate.