Some hospital doctors, nurses and ancillary staff were becoming demotivated by constant negative statements about the future of the services, the Minister of State for Health, Mr O'Malley, said.
Winding up a debate on the Hanly Report on medical staffing he said he could understand the concerns that people had about their local hospitals.
But constant talk of down-grading was having a demotivating effect on hard working individuals. Critics of Government policy talked much of the time as if the "huge" improvements in the health services over the last decade had not taken place.
Minister Micheál Martin said the report completed the package of reforms set out in the Health Service Reform Programme announced last June. Its implementation was vital to achieving the kinds of improvements in health care that were needed. Pointing out that the Tierney Report had suggested 10 years ago that we should have 1,500 senior consultants by 2003, Mr Martin noted that we now had 1,730. "I say this to illustrate that what is proposed in the Hanley Report is achievable over a ten-year time frame."
Mr Terry Leyden (FF) called again for the binning of the report, saying that it was a disaster both medically and politically.
As far as he could see, health policy was being controlled by the RTÉ Health correspondent, Ms Aileen O'Meara. She was a respected journalist but there were ambulance-chasing journalists in RTÉ. Opposition to the current health structures was being led by journalists who were influencing the Minister. "All the top journalists are in Dublin with top medical attention and they don't care a damn about the medical needs of the West of Ireland or of Roscommon."
Mr Ulick Burke (FG) said assurances had been given in the past by Minister Martin and by the Tánaiste about the future of Portiuncula hospital in Ballinasloe. In the current climate no-one would believe what had been said, "especially since they have now deferred the final part of the Hanley Report until after the local elections. Cynicism in the extreme."
This was being done to avoid the wrath of the public and it was akin to the way that cuts in the pipeline had been suppressed before the last general election.
Mr John Minihan (PD) said he wished to be disassociated from remarks made in the House last week, that the report should be put on the shelf.
Mr James Bannon (FG) : "The remark was made by a member of the Senators side - Senator Leyden."
Minister Martin: "There is freedom of speech."
Responding to Mr Burke, Minister O'Malley said that Hanley had not yet done phase 22.