Ahern to face down growing dissent over Hanly

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern will seek to quell simmering tensions over the controversial Hanly report at today’s Fianna Fáil parliamentary party and Cabinet meetings.

As internal party grumblings continue in the wake of the Michael Smith affair, Mr Ahern is expected to continue his hardline stance against party dissent while at the same time balancing the concerns of local TDs who fear the possibility of a negative backlash as a result of the Hanly proposals in next year's local elections.

Both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste Mary Harney yesterday insisted the Smith controversy was now over.

Mr Smith, who was away in Brussels, was unavailable for comment but other prominent TDs and senators continued to express concern at Hanly proposals to downgrade local A&E services in favour of proposed centres-of-excellence.

Chief among them was Oireachtas Education Committee chairman Tony Killeen who said he was confident the Hanly recommendations would have to be adjusted.

"I don't accept that the Hanly plan depends as its fulcrum on the change in relation to accident and emergency. Neither do I accept that there is a cost advantage in proceeding down that particular route. All the evidence available to me suggests there are very real advantages in retaining the smaller units," he said.

Clare Senator Timmy Dooley said that while he fully endorsed the Hanly report he could understand the concerns of those facing longer trips to A&E services due to the downgrading of Ennis hospital.

"People would be rightly concerned with any change in the time it takes to access A&E services. It's a huge issue locally," he said.

But Mr Ahern yesterday stressed that all views would be taken into account in the years leading up to the implementation of the proposed reforms while Health Minister Mícheál Martin said he was not worried that internal party dissent would make his job more difficult.

"The idea that every single TD in the country is somehow not in a position to articulate a viewpoint I think is one that I wouldn't agree with. We have to have some toleration for debate and the articulation of local concerns," Mr Martin said, adding that he would welcome a rational debate on the matter.

Concerns raised by Mr Killeen on the report's lack of consideration for industrial relations issues were echoed last night by hospital consultants and junior doctors, who warned that the industrial relations fallout would prove to be the 'Achilles heel' of the report.

The key elements of the report the reduction of hospital doctors' hours in line with the European working time directive, the introduction of a consultant-provided service and reform of medical education and training structures all have significant industrial relations implications.

Dr Asam Ishtiaq, chairman of the IMO's non-consultant hospital doctors association, said: "Let's face it, the proposals are radical, they will involve a change in work practices for almost everyone within the hospital system. Yet Hanly did not provide any template for industrial relations or political considerations."