Cork politicians warned last evening that there needs to be far more accountability within the health sector to ensure that the system is operating to the highest standards.

Just hours before Dáil members debated a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health, Labour's Ciarán Lynch called for the Minister to become more accountable while Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen said he would asking the head of the Health service Executive Professor Drumm to personally accept responsibility for the issues at hand.

Speaking to the Cork Independent Deputy Ciarán Lynch said that it was unacceptable for the Minister to feel entitled to be removed from health issues as she had done in the Dáil. " It is unacceptable that she should go into a meeting ignorant of the fact that a further 97 women were to be given notice by way of that meeting, that they were to face the trauma of an uncertain future as a result of a failure by the health service. It is unacceptable that the Minister for Health feels entitled to be at one remove from health issues," he said.

Deputy Lynch also criticised the current practice whereby when a member of the Dáil puts a parliamentary question to the Minister for Health that the matter is often forwarded to the HSE. He explained how when a member of the house puts down a written question to a Minister they will in general receive a response in about four days which is then available to the public. However he said when a Deputy asks a question of the Minister for Health she often refers it to the HSE which means the response may not come through for four weeks and is then not available to other Members of the House or to the public.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael's Deputy Bernard Allen said that he would make it his business to personally question Professor Drumm on the "propaganda machine" and there unwillingness to accept responsibility for the issues at hand they are running in the HSE. "As the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee I'll be getting Professor Drumm to answer the important questions. I am particularly curious about the propaganda machine they are running and the cost of spending on PR," he said.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment