MORE THAN 70 per cent of questions regarding the health services tabled in the Dáil over recent months have gone unanswered as a result of the industrial action in the public service.
A number of public service unions have placed a ban on members co-operating with the provision of answers to parliamentary questions since early March as part of the overall campaign of industrial action against pay cuts.
Minister for Health Mary Harney told the Dáil last week that a total of 1,083 parliamentary questions were taken by her department in the period from March 3rd to May 13th.
She said of these, 767 had not been answered as a result of industrial action by staff in the Department of Health and in the HSE.
Replying to questions tabled by John Deasy, Jan O’Sullivan and Chris Andrews, the Minster said: “Responding to the information needs of the Oireachtas is a priority for my department and I very much regret that in recent months it has not been possible to provide a substantive response to many parliamentary questions due to industrial action.
“All parliamentary questions affected by the action have been answered by my department to the effect that the industrial dispute has prevented the supply of substantive answers, and Deputies have been consistently advised to raise the question again in due course should the matter remain of ongoing concern. This approach was designed to prevent a backlog of questions building up, particularly as a significant proportion of the questions related to cases where the information being sought by the Deputy through the parliamentary process might, in the circumstances, be obtained by alternative means.”
The industrial action is likely to continue until the unions make a final decision on the Croke Park deal in mid-June.