Rumours about the Minister for Health's departure from Dáil may well be premature, writes NOEL WHELAN
THIS WEEK, Mary Harney told Pat Kenny that she was enjoying the challenge of being Minister for Health, and looking forward to staying in the job for the foreseeable future.
Harney must, however, be as conscious as everyone else that her enduring presence at the Cabinet table is a constitutional curiosity. She is one of only two TDs in the history of the State to have held full ministerial office as an Independent, the other having been James Dillon. Dillon began his ministerial term as an Independent; Harney saw her party vanish since the election.
Harney’s survival as Minister for Health is extraordinary, but then hers has been an extraordinary political career.
As the first female auditor of the Trinity Historical Society (the Hist) debating society, she enjoyed a substantial profile, on which Jack Lynch sought to capitalise by adding her to the Fianna Fáil ticket in Dublin South East for the 1977 Dáil election. She didn’t win, but polled respectably for a candidate with no background in the constituency or the party.
It was to be Harney’s only political defeat – a blemish that she shares with no fewer than three other Marys who have had significant political careers: Robinson, McAleese and Hanafin.
In August 1977 Lynch appointed Harney to the Seanad, and at 24 she was the youngest member then ever elected or appointed to the upper house. Having reoriented her political focus to Dublin South West, she was elected to Dublin County Council in 1979 and to Dáil Éireann in 1981.
Harney’s durability has seen her reach some of the highest political offices in the land. She held her seat in every election since 1981, notwithstanding demographic shifts and boundary redraws in her Clondalkin base, and the electoral volatility of the Progressive Democrats.
Although relatively young, Harney is currently “The mother of the Dáil” – the female member with the longest unbroken service.
When the Progressive Democrats formally announced their intention to disband in autumn 2008, I was among those who questioned the presumptuousness of her backers in assuming her entitlement to remain as Minister for Health. I wondered why, if she wished to retain her Cabinet position in a Fianna Fáil-dominated government, she couldn’t be expected to join Fianna Fáil.
I concluded that Brian Cowen would retain her, even as an Independent, as he did. There is every likelihood she may survive any Cowen reshuffle this year.
There is clearly something about Harney that has made her indispensable. This is partly attributable to her handling of the health portfolio. Although she won’t necessarily get much credit for it in the short term, Harney has delivered on a transformation of the health services. While the reform programme has been slower, more difficult and more costly then would have been hoped, it is happening.
There have been significant improvements at AE units. Harney told Pat Kenny that 90 per cent of those attending AE are treated, seen and sent home, or admitted, within six hours. Problems in a remaining handful of hospitals will be ironed out in coming months. The shift from a hospital-based system to a primary care-focused system is in train, with 200 primary care teams in place as infrastructure is built around them.
Cancer treatment is also being transformed, most visibly in the eight designated centres for breast cancer care. The consultants’ deal has been done, and now needs to be policed. Drugs costs have been reduced.
One of her most significant legacies will be the Fair Deal – the financial support scheme for people in need of long-term care, which is freeing up hospital beds.
Harney’s term has not been without controversies, most notably that over co-location. It is striking, however, how much less prominent health is as an issue than three or four years ago. The economic crisis is the primary reason for this, but Harney too can claim some credit.
Big challenges remain. Harney identified new legislation on health insurance as one in her Pat Kenny interview. Finding the right successor to Brendan Drumm is another. Maintaining frontline services on a budget of €1 billion less will be the priority.
On the basis of her health showing alone, one could see why Cowen – likely to prove an even more cautious Cabinet-maker than his predecessor – would want to leave things as they are.
It is also worth remembering that of her 28 years as a TD, Harney has spent almost 13 years as a minister, 10 of those as tánaiste. She spent more than 14 years as a leader of a political party. She therefore has a wealth of political experience.
Those around government speak of how Harney plays a paternal role in cabinet, as a counsellor to newer ministers, a neutral bridge between the Greens and the Fianna Fáil and an all-round wise head. It helps that she is a strong communicator on the economy and banking.
Many of us assumed Harney would not contest the next general election, but told Pat Kenny she had actually never said that, reminding him that she is younger than many have been when elected to the Dáil.
So rumours of her departure from Cabinet or Dáil Éireann may indeed be premature.