Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney last night received outright support from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Tánaiste Brian Cowen when the Government easily defeated a no confidence motion against her.
Fianna Fáil Cork East TD Ned O'Keeffe resigned from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party after he issued a strong condemnation of the Government's ability to deliver a functioning health system.
Though he supported the Government in preventing the Labour-sponsored no confidence motion being put to the House, he abstained on the vote on the Government's amended motion when it was dealt with minutes later. The Government won 83-73.
Government chief whip Tom Kitt regretted that Mr O'Keeffe "felt it necessary to resign the party whip", saying that he has been a "great servant to his own electoral area" and "hopefully he will be back in the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party in the future".
The intensity of the defence mounted on behalf of Ms Harney by Mr Ahern, in particular, and Mr Cowen was notable during the second half of a highly-charged debate before nearly a full showing of TDs.
Delivering an impassioned speech in defence of Ms Harney, Mr Ahern said she "is not the one to blame and not the one who will be found blameworthy" once ongoing investigations are finished.
Mr Ahern said HSE management are accountable for their direct management of the system.
"Individual clinicians, and health managers, are also accountable for the actions which they took, or did not take. In the case of the HSE, they are accountable to the Minister, and thus to the Government, and in addition to Dáil Éireann," he said.
Ms Harney's "qualities and determination" have been "best seen" in her drive to reform Ireland's cancer services and the creation of eight world class specialist centres, said Mr Ahern.
She had taken "on vested interests of all kinds" in her attempts to reform the health service, though, he said, "there are many difficulties in bringing this to completion".
When pressed to a vote, the Government easily won with its counter motion, which lauded the Minister for the improvement in cancer services, with the support of Independent TDs Finian McGrath, Michael Lowry, Jackie Healy-Rae, and Beverley Flynn.
Mr Cowen put pressure on the Opposition to join a political consensus, modelled on social partnership, to improve cancer care.
"We have a Minister for Health who wants to bring reform. It is for this House to represent citizens, not resisters of change," he said.
However, Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore sharply attacked the Government's bid to get the Opposition to join an all-party health agreement when there is "no agreement on policy. You must have policies agreed first".
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Ms Harney had failed to heed warnings from Portlaoise that there was a problem with the diagnosis of breast cancer cases in the Midlands General Hospital.
"The surge of action on Friday when the Minister's political neck was on the line demonstrated where her priorities lay, the protection of her political career," said Mr Kenny, opening the second half of the no confidence motion debate.
"Minister Harney says again and again she won't walk off the pitch. The reality is she wasn't on the pitch when she was needed. In any credible functioning, accountable Government you would be dropped from the team by now," he told the Minister.
Mr O'Keeffe's decision to quit the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, yet vote for the Government in one of the two votes put to the House last night, caused bemusement among some of his former colleagues.
Denied the opportunity to speak in the debate, Mr O'Keeffe circulated a speech to journalists which said the Government's health policy can be summarised as "confrontation, privatisation and Americanisation".
He went on: "Let's get back to basics putting patients and their needs first. Stop calling them 'clients' and let's get our existing hospitals functioning properly."
