MINISTER FOR Health Mary Harney has ruled out any deal with Galway TD Noel Grealish over health cuts to retain his support for the Government in the Dáil.
The Independent Galway West TD announced yesterday that he would withdraw his support for the Coalition unless health cuts in his constituency were reversed.
“There is no deal and can be no deal,” Ms Harney said in response to Mr Grealish’s threat.
“We don’t have additional money to put into west of Ireland. Everyone has to live within their budgets,” she said at an opening of an extension to the Blackrock Clinic in Dublin.
She said she was happy to meet Mr Grealish next week to provide the clarification he was looking for about the health budget in the west.
Mr Grealish said he would not support the Government until such time as planned health budget cuts in the west were clarified.
He added that he would vote on issues as they arose in the Dáil and while there might be some issues that he would support on a personal basis, the Government could no longer count on his support on every vote.
Mr Grealish said he was not trying to bring down the Government but was standing up for what he felt was right and had written to Taoiseach Brian Cowen and to Ms Harney to inform them of his decision.
The former Progressive Democrats TD said he had come to his decision following a briefing by the Health Service Executive (HSE) on budget cuts. He said planned cuts of €19.5 million for hospitals in Galway would have a huge impact on patient care.
He told the Connacht Tribune on Thursday that he believed it was time for a general election. Mr Grealish said that there had been historical underfunding in the west by the HSE.
The Taoiseach said that he looked forward to responding to Mr Grealish, but that response had to be in the context of the budgets available.
“I will study the letter and respond to him obviously. I think what we all understand is when it comes to the likes of the health services or any other services there are limited budgets. We have to make sure that we get more for less.”
Mr Cowen said in Limerick there was a need for health services to stay within the levels and plans that were agreed at the beginning of the year.
“We have to have the best possible practices in place. We have to put the patient, or the client, at the centre of our concerns and try make sure that we can, with the monies that are provided, make the very best possible service we can provide for everyone throughout the country.”
Mr Cowen insisted this would be done for hospitals in the west and in the rest of the country.
Labour Party Galway West TD Michael D Higgins said “patients are going to suffer enormously” and “patient safety will be compromised” if the planned cuts were implemented in the west.
“On the day we witnessed the Minister launch the Health Information and Quality Authority’s consultation on patient safety and her extolling of its economic virtues, we in Galway also heard from HSE West management that they could not implement further planned cuts without jeopardising patient safety,” Mr Higgins said.
Fine Gael Senator Fidelma Healy Eames accused Mr Grealish of making a play of pulling support from the most unpopular Government in the history of the State just to save his own political skin.
“This stunt by Noel Grealish is more about saving his own political career than it is about saving health services in Galway,” Senator Healy Eames said. “The real question is, if the crunch comes, will he really put his money where his mouth is and bring down the Government?” she added.