Remember he had the hairy hands and ended up in jurassic park(st.clabberts)

Who is that in picture 1 with him? It’s not Róisín Shortall!

Revolting man.

Ponder this: the Irish government spends more per head of population on health than the UK government. And in the UK they have the free NHS. Nobody has to pay for a doctor, or for health insurance. In Ireland: 50 quid to visit the doctor and (if you want any kind of reasonable treatment within a reasonable timeframe) you have to pay hundreds per person in private health insurance…

cowen mk2

This guy and his antics are going to lead to the collapse of the coalition. Between himself and Hogan I don’t know which one of them is worse. I taught I had seen it all with inept, talentless, crass politicians with the last shower, such as Dick Roche , Bertie Ahern, Mary Coughlan, Mary Harney, Noel Dempsey, Micheal McDowell etc etc etc. But these two jokers are every bit as bad as those they succeeded.

You confuse access with cost , almost every cent of your money collect in paye tax is spent on health , if you live and work here you are funding the health system with your hard earned money , it’s a grossly inefficient system , guys at the top earn some of the best pay rates in the world , a system that all political parties have used and abused as a political football , there nothing free in this world , the front line staff do their very best in difficult circumstances , but free …..it’s not free.

@paddy , I don’t disagree with the overall sentiment of your comment , I was replying to a comment that said health service was FREE , I don’t see how I was ” so way out of line” with the comment that consultants are amount the highest paid in the world as that’s a fact , I also believe that not all health workers should be tarred with that specific problem and so qualified it by saying I’m aware some health workers work bloody long hours doing very hard work and are not earning half a million a year but are struggling like the majority to pay mortgages and just get on. The system is banjaxed and needs reform , but it’s not just health , social welfare payments are double what the UK pays , rents for business are excessive , energy costs are excessive , public service inefficiency is widespread, credit us nit available , banks are banjaxed , The scale of the problem is extensive- but as i say my comment here was to point out that the Heath system isn’t free , using that to suggest I am way off line is kinda misguided.

Number 9. This is how I did the puppeteer with Roisin.

We have a very low number of consultants per capita population. Even if more were appointed , they’d be standing about waiting. Because they can’t get into the operating theatres as there is no staff , no ICU beds for post op care , no beds to bring the patients from their lists into. This is about running our hospitals 24/7 , and appointing not just extra consultants but giving them the beds , staff and space resources to do their job.
And as for primary care , Dr Reillys primary care centres are aspirational at most. He would be better off to fund primary care as it stands now , allowing general practitioners and their teams which are already in place to lead care in the community properly. Buildings will not make teams , people and resources will.

Michael O’Leary should be appointed minister of health. It’d soon be turning a profit….

doctor death

He would want big hands to pull up his big pants every morning over those big ‘liathroidi’s’ he has.
Please excuse the spelling!!!!!

I don’t understand why the picture of O’Reilly has been left on here for so long. Next it could be Kenny, Gilmore, Hogan. I think this is making these people more popular.

Tough man for a tough job. His Junior Minister proved she didn’t have what it takes even at the non job junior level. I believe we will see him achieve much more than his predecessors and without money. Remember up to now all Ministers just poured double digit increases into the hole that Health is.
Reilly only has declining budgets and has already dealt with the trolley issue and with the Consultants who now have to work late evenings and weekends. That will transform work schedules and Hosptals should no longer be five day nine to five places of work.
Next I think the cosy contracts that GP’s have whereby they get paid whether they see patients or not must be changed to a fee per item of service and targets must be achieved. These guys will also have to provide working hours that match those of Consultants.