Mary Harney should resign

national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Monday May 08, 2006 18:23 by people before profit - people before profit

Put health before profit

People Before Profit Alliance (Health Action Group):
www.people-before-profit.org

It is time for Mary Harney to resign.

Last weekend nurses at the annual conference of the Irish Nurses
Organisation (INO) passed a motion of no confidence in Minister Mary Harney.
The nurses' motion blamed her for failing to deal with the trolley
crisis and “her negative attitude” towards nurses.

Nurses rejected "the cosy consensus" of the social partnership approach
to nurses' conditions and the privatisation of the health service. They
are demanding a 35 hour week and parity of pay with other therapists.
These demands are vital to ensure the retention of nurses and to ensure
safe conditions for patients.

At the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) conference three weeks ago Dr
Fergus O'Ferrall called on the Government to publish any research behind
the funding of ‘for-profit’ hospitals with billions in tax-breaks.
O'Ferrall blamed Mary Harney's "neoliberal ideals" for putting profits
before people.

Of course Mary Harney’s plan has no evidence because ‘for-profit’
hospitals are for making profits not for good healthcare. The crisis in the
health service is now a national emergency according to Harney. But
isn’t she in charge of it?

Harney's refusal to fund public beds and running down the public
service is not an error for her -- it is the plan. It is designed to scare
people into buying health insurance and to force patients to 'go
private'. In a for-profit health system like in the US, Health Insurance for an
average family now costs over €10,000 per year!

The US is number one for health spending but 22nd (out of 22 OECD
countries) for health. This makes it the most inefficient health service in
the developed world. International research repeatedly shows that the
bureaucracy, fees, executive pay and massive corporate profits can
account for over one third of healthcare costs!

The People Before Profit Alliance has responded to the current crisis
by setting up a Health Action Group to campaign for a publicly funded
state of the art Health Service. The Neoliberal ideology that Harney and
this government follow puts profits, privatisation, markets and
tax-cuts for the rich before the quality of health and safety of children, the
sick and the elderly.

The Health Action Group is calling for support for health service
workers who defend their conditions and stand up to this government's
profiteering. We call on all campaigns to work together to stop Harney's
neoliberal drive to privatise the health service.

Signed: Pat Fitzgerald,
Dr Peadar O'Grady,
Health Action Group,
People before Profit Alliance,
www.people-before-profit.org

*Discuss the corporate take over of Ireland at our public meeting this Friday, May 12th at 7.30pm in Cassidys Hotel, O Connell St.