Harney In The Firing Line
A part of me felt sorry for Mary Harney last night facing down the opposition in the Dail. Lots of the support there from the Government. Not. FF cohorts were lying low, it seems.
Harney is getting all the flack as she’s the girl in question, now. She’s the Minister for Health. She has the brief. She wanted the job. The Ministry for Health is a poison chalice, yet she stood up and asked Bertie for that job. She knew it would be tough. The PDs were on the ropes following the last general election. Yes, it was a risky strategy. But she stood up and said, give me the toughest job and I’m willing to risk my political future and that of my fledgling party on it. That takes bravery. Bravery that the some Fianna Fail Government members are still looking for, as it seems they couldn’t turn out for a good show in the Dail last night.
This, however, is just a trifle. As what we’re talking about here is life and death. The Health Service has been a runaway train for decades now. Successive governments are culpable, despite their strong attacks on the current Minister. They all played cards with the Devil here. I hope to God that none of my nearest and dearest end up in the care of public hospitals in the near future, as they will quite literally be dicing with death.
Structural changes are needed in the Health Service. Harney kicked off the process by dissolving the old Health Boards and founding the HSE, with the aim of streamlining the adminstration and provision of health care services to the Irish nation. Yet, last week she had problems sourcing information on the 97 women whose cases?needed to be reviewed. The Minister for Health couldn’t get information from the HSE. What does tell you about the structure of the HSE, its comms levels and its answerability to the Minister for Health? It smells of scant regard.
It appears to me that many of the problems of the Health Boards are being replicated by the HSE. The same faces in the same places, making the same decision. I would like to Harney go further and cut out more of the deadwood from the heart of the HSE.
I support her moves to modernise the Irish Health Service. She often gets labelled as a ‘political gladiator’. Someone that smarts for an argument more readily than delivering on her political promises. I don’t believe that. She’s willing to stand out and take risks. She can also stand up in the Dail, withstand a roasting and retaliate without depending on notes. These are attributes that many other Irish politicians would bottle at. I’m hoping she goes further and follows through on her goals. Her political legacy and that of her party depends on it.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:09 am
[...] time ago I defended Mary Harney for the roasting she got in the media about cancer scare. I still believe she’s doing her [...]