FF health briefing:Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday voiced support for a proposal to appoint an international expert to arbitrate in nurses' claim for a 35-hour week. Liam Reidreports.
Speaking at his party's daily briefing in Dublin, Mr Ahern adopted a conciliatory note towards nursing unions, complimenting them for showing "leadership" by proposing changes in work practices to coincide with a 35-hour week.
However, he attacked Enda Kenny over a similar proposal for an independent arbiter on the nurses' dispute.
Echoing comments he made on the issue on Thursday, Mr Ahern claimed the Fine Gael leader's suggestion would contravene the social partnership agreement and was "highly irresponsible".
He said Mr Kenny had "no experience in industrial relations and never had".
"The way out of this impasse," Mr Ahern said, "is to establish a process that establishes the full potential of the changes and practices the nurses are willing to sign up to".
"And I believe health management and nurses should set out their ideas for changes in full, so that they can be seen and be evaluated. And this should be assisted by the best international expertise we can find so that the best of good practice in nursing care is reflected."
He was "quite happy" to go outside the country in the search for an independent expert.
"I'm prepared to appoint an independent eminent person to oversee the process and give him or her the brief to ensure that every possible option [is examined] to facilitate the achievement of a 35-hour week for nurses within the framework of social partnership," he said.
He added that the Government would not go outside the benchmarking process on the pay claim.
"It has been made crystal clear to me by the affiliated unions if we go outside the benchmarking, everybody will put in a claim for a 35-hour week. And this would have enormous implications for costs."
He added that such a process "has to be within the framework of social partnership and I believe a time limit should be agreed within which this process should be completed".
Mr Ahern said the nurses' proposals for changes in work practices had "great potential in my view in delivering important benefits for patients".
"I believe we should respond enthusiastically to the potential and recognise the leadership the nurses are showing in transforming the way that care is delivered."
He suggested that if nurses entered such a process, there would be no need for the HSE to proceed with plans to dock pay because of the work to rule.
He acknowledged that the threat by the HSE "is throwing oil on waters, but there's been disruption in the service now for several weeks, and the nursing management people trying to hold things together are under fierce pressure".
However, he added: "I do not think it would be necessary to do anything else while we try to work our way through this. If we don't do this, then I think it's inevitable. And that's the problem."
Mr Ahern said he believed his proposals were "a fair and reasonable basis on which their legitimate aspirations can be pursued without the need for further industrial action".
"And I would ask all sides to reflect today and if not today over the weekend."
Speaking at the press conference to launch the party's proposals on health, Mr Ahern also defended his party's record on health reform and its failure to eliminate hospital waiting lists as promised during the 2002 election campaign.
"I'll accept every waiting list in the country isn't cleared," he said. "But when we started this process, when Micheál Martin started this process and sat here five years ago, we were talking about waiting lists that were by and large 30 months. Today, it's five months. There are very few cases . . . that are over that."
The party's document said that there had been an increase of 300,000 to nearly one million in the number of patients treated in the health service every year, and a quadrupling in spending on health to nearly €15 billion.
The party has proposed to provide 2,000 more public hospital beds, which will include 1,000 being freed up through the "private hospitals on public land" initiative.
He said Fianna Fáil had "transformed" and improved the health service greatly through initiatives such as the national treatment purchase fund, increased levels of consultants and new facilities.
"We have dramatically, dramatically changed the difficulty," he said. "Waiting lists are an issue, but nothing like it was."