Why won’t Fianna Fáil publish their health policy? Because they don’t have one – Doherty

Fine Gael Meath East TD Regina Doherty has called on Fianna Fáil to stop hoodwinking the Irish people and to actually take the time to publish a health policy of their own.

“Fianna Fail has no policy whatsoever on health and this has been clear for some time. Instead, they take the cheap, lazy, option of criticising Fine Gael and Government policies. Three- and-a half-years into this Dáil term, for the largest opposition party to have no health policy at all, much less a credible one, is beyond belief.

“Over a year ago, Fianna Fáil said they would be bringing out ‘radical’ proposals on the health service. Yet when he was asked this week for details on that health policy, Fianna Fail’s Health Spokesperson Billy Kelleher gave a vague answer about publishing it ‘in the months ahead’. I called on them nearly six months ago to publish their health policy, and they still don’t have one. Sadly, they have form in this area – Fianna Fáil didn’t even bother to have a health policy in their last General Election manifesto.

“Perhaps if he is serious about developing a health policy, Billy Kelleher might seek the assistance of former Fianna Fáil Minister Mary Hanafin, who this weekend shone a light on her own Party’s complete dearth of policy.

“The only ‘policy paper’ Billy Kelleher could refer to is an independent report carried out on their behalf by an academic. Even then, this same academic paper says that ‘the views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of…..Fianna Fáil.’

“Fianna Fáil taking a non-committal view of someone else’s work just won’t cut it as a health policy. It’s another example of a weak front bench, long on hot air, long on rhetoric, but sadly short of ideas, solutions or commitment to helping the Irish people.”