Shoddy proposals and pet demands – a new low for Ireland’s health policy

My analysis from the Irish Independent on 14 April 2016

Repeated surveys show that the state of our health system is the people’s number one concern. Yet Fine Gael’s health proposals (covered in previous articles) are very weak while health gets barely three pages in Fianna Fáil’s ‘Priorities for Government’ document.

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Addressing the abortion issue

From the Medical Independent on 17 December 2015

This Government came to power with no intention of legislating on abortion. Its 2011 Programme for Government health section made five commitments under ‘bioethics’. Four of these five commitments promised legislation. On abortion, it carefully avoided any intent on enacting legislation. Irish politicians know the divisiveness of political debates on what are perceived as moral matters.

Varadkar should do the right thing and abolish prescription charges

See below analysis from Irish Independent on 19 September 2014

Leo Varadkar has prioritised getting a realistic budget for health as number one of 10 priorities he wants to achieve within the next 18 months. All 10 priorities make good sense, some of them might even be delivered in the tight timeframe envisaged.

Kenny should recognise health service failings are ultimately his responsibility

Opinion in Irish Independent on 11 September 2014

Enda Kenny’s remark that he was not interested in endless volumes of explanations on why things can’t get done is fair comment for the leader of government.

One could reasonably expect, three and half years into office, that good progress would have been made on many of the 87 health commitments made in his own Programme for Government.

Extra €500m prescription for health is no magic pill for bad policy choices

THE €500m supplementary health budget finally admitted to by the Taoiseach yesterday in the Dail was always inevitable and a direct result of shoddy political decisions made by his own government. See below for analysis from Irish Independent on 26 June 2014. 

White must show some political savvy in lion’s den after holding gun to GPs’ heads

Here is my analysis from Irish Independent on 26 April 2014 on Alex White and free GP care

Programme for Government health commitments, potentially ‘revolutionary’

The first sentence in the health section the new programme for government reads ‘this government is the first in the history of the State that is committed to developing a universal, single tier health services, which guarantees access to medical care based on need, not income’. The opening line of the full document refers to a ‘democratic revolution’ that took place on election day, how with the stroke of a pen the public had demanded change.