Madam, - In the UK, two CDs containing personal information about millions of families go missing in the post. There is as yet no indication they have fallen into the wrong hands. The chairman of the government agency involved, HM Revenue and Customs, who had no direct hand in the breach of procedure, resigns immediately because he is ultimately responsible.
In Ireland, an unknown number of people have died or will die as a result of a gross failures in the health service, compounded by maladministration and a failure of checks and balances over at least 10 years. Hundreds of others are traumatised by having their health called into question. Confidence is lost in a key facet of our health services.
The head of the Government agency involved doesn't know about the investigation within his own agency. The Minister involved doesn't know what's happening. Neither has shown any intention of resigning.
Shame on them. Shame on the Taoiseach and the Government for not sacking them. Shame on Government backbenchers for not withdrawing their support.
Shame on us for electing that Government. - Yours, etc,
KEITH MARTIN, The Maltings, Island Street, Dublin 8.
Madam, - As is evident from your Letters' page, opposition to hospital "co-location" refuses to go away.
It was clear before the general election that key Ministers had no idea of the cost of this policy. The Minister for Finance, who should know better, seemed to equate its cost with the the level of tax forgone. Conveniently, he ignored the ongoing costs that will arise due to duplication of activities and resources, the operation of two separate management systems on the same site and, most critically, the premium needed to cover future profits of the developers of the co-located hospitals. In the long run, these items will be far more significant than the initial tax breaks.
In addition, private health insurance subscribers will face substantial additional premiums and, at the same time, public hospitals will encounter substantial reductions in revenue. This is classic "lose-lose" rather than "win-win".
The Government's mandate has been to fix the health service - not to break it by allowing the private sector to cherry-pick profitable niches. Valuable time and many lives have been lost as a consequence of the single-minded pursuit of this ideologically-driven approach; and the opportunity to develop a single-tier public system could be lost for at least a generation.
Instead of pursuing privatisation by stealth and hiding behind task forces and reports, the Government should, even at this late stage, ditch this warped PD ideology and start tackling the very real and obvious issues linked to management, staffing and resources. If this had been done much earlier in the 10-year life of this Government, we could have reached, by now, a situation where the end of waiting-lists would be in sight and the need for private heath insurance as a method of queue-jumping would have diminished. - Yours, etc,
BRIAN FLANAGAN, Ardmeen Park, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Madam, - I don't believe that either Mary Harney's office or the headquarters of the HSE could be considered as "centres of excellence". Any chance of some "co-location"? - Yours, etc,
GARRY CLARKE, Spricklestown, The Ward, Co Dublin.