Greens call for CF action welcome but is it confidence inspiring?

I'm on the Green Party's mailing list and received an email earlier today with comments from Senator Deirdre De Burca calling for the Pollock reports recommendations to be treated with urgency.

In the release De Burca says "Ireland has the highest incidence of Cystic Fibrosis in Europe and yet reports show that Cystic Fibrosis care is consistently below standard. The Pollock report, commissioned and published by the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland in 2005, compared existing hospital services to acceptable international standards. It found that current staffing was seriously inadequate and that in many locations, the physical facilities for patients with Cystic Fibrosis were well below accepted standards. The lack of segregation and isolation facilities for both outpatients and inpatients exposed sufferers to cross infection with virulent organisms such as MRSA and hepatitis C. This situation simply cannot continue."

She went on to say "The issues of secure funding, acceptable levels of specialist staffing and the provision of suitable segregation and isolation facilities must be top priority. I will be raising this issue as part of an Adjournment Debate early in this term of Seanad Éireann. I will be calling on the Minister for Health Mary Harney to commit to implementing the recommendations of the Pollock Report without delay."

This is all very noble but isn't the Senator's party in Government? Don't they have the power to give the Department of Health a kick up the behind and get things moving? The wording of the release reads awfully like something an opposition politician would say which isn't where the Greens need to be.

I don't doubt De Burca's sentiments for a moment and indeed heartily welcome her views but the time for talk from Government politicians on the matter is over. Attention Green Party, you guys won last May. Sure you're the smaller party but this is a buzz topic at the moment in health so rather than sound like a party on the outside looking in, do something about it.

The Greens have had to deal with more than their fair share of flak since entering office and I for one don't wish to add to it as I believe they have handled themselves well. Hopefully representatives like De Burca will be able to exert some influence from this position now and her call on the Minister will be listened to. For now we'll have to wait and see, in the meantime a lot of people are counting on this being more than just hot air.