Comments on: Is the health minister’s job radioactive?

By: P O'Neill

P O'Neill — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:37:44 +0000

Good memory Simon. It was 1987.

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:33:16 +0000

That FF slogan was from 87 i thought

By: P O'Neill

P O'Neill — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:11:35 +0000

I had meant to mention in the post that the occupant of the job before Cowen arguably did pay a price for it — Michael Noonan. I think he was dogged by the image of the hep-C contamination victims into his position as leader of FG. The other memory from 1997, if I remember right, is the FF slogan of the time: “Health cuts hurt the old, the sick, and the handicapped”. The more things change and all that.

By: Cian

Cian — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:52:19 +0000

I think Gordon is correct but the other element to this is the manner in which successive ministers tried and failed to bring any sense of rationalisation to bear on the system. The problem of public private attacks attempts to reform as much as it attacks patient care.

the minister now has the interests of private operators to look after Gordon so the number of balls and competing interests being juggled are enormous and patient care is only one of those.

you make a good point P about the lack of punishment for failure but that is as much a reflection of the person in charge as it is of voters. I think harney looks like she has lost all interest and vision for this job. I admired the bravery it took to carry that job (though disagreeing with her policy positions) but right now she looks sapped completely.

By: Gordon Davies

Gordon Davies — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:13:14 +0000

Historically, there are other culprits in the sorry story of the Health Service (I use the term loosely):

- the unholy alliance of senior doctors and the bishops who ensured that the dangerous socialist notion of a national tax-funded health service was not set up;

- the Hospital Sweepstakes which ensured, even with the tiny percentage of revenue that was actually used for hospitals, that Ireland had a dense network of small local hospitals, beyongd the means of the State to fund and manage them;

- the Haughey cuts

Gordon