Quick note on Harneygate

As much as I dislike Mary Harney - and boy, do I dislike her - I'm finding myself fairly disgusted with the calls for her step down for getting her hair done on the public purse.

It's not that I think the expenditure was justified. But I can't recall anyone saying that Bertie should step down when it was revealed that more than the average industrial wage was being spent on his make-up. People said it was excessive, certainly. But his position wasn't held to be "untenable" because of it.

You can't separate this hullaballoo from gender issues. Women in the public eye are relentlessly judged for their appearance, Harney more than many others. There is a really nasty undertone to some of the comments being made in the blogosphere about this. Women who consider standing for election know full well they'll be subject to the same excruciating level of scrutiny for their hair, their clothes, their weight. Don't think for a moment this isn't a contributing factor to the under-participation of women in politics.

Harney should resign, of course. But I've always said that. She should resign because of the millions of taxpayer euros she's giving away to developers at the expense of the public healthcare system. That's the important issue, not the fact that she - like the Taoiseach and all male office holders - has an excessive personal appearance budget.

And what if it was a vaccine against prostate cancer?

A member of a Government expert panel has criticised the delay in recommending whether a cervical cancer vaccine should be provided under a National Immunisation programme. link

OK, let's look at the facts.

• Studies suggest that up to 75% of people may contract the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, at some point during their reproductive years.


• Ireland has one of the highest rates of cervical cancer in Western Europe.


• 180 Irish women are diagnosed with this illness every year.


• 80 Irish women a year die from it.


• In clinical trials, the vaccine was found to be 100% effective against the types of HPV linked to most cervical cancers. Link.

What about this is a tough call?

During yesterday's Dáil debate on Risk Equalisation, Mary Harney, referring to statistics showing that approximately 50% of people in the State have private health insurance, stated (paraphrasing): "This is a good thing. It demonstrates the rise in disposable income."

My God, woman, what planet are you on? People aren't taking out private insurance because they can afford to with all their extra dosh. They're taking it out because they are scared to death of getting sick and having to go on a long waiting list for treatment, or lie on a hospital trolley for three weeks.

A letter in today's Indo (registration required) states that GPs in Ireland are now charging upwards of €60 per visit. This is incredible. What's more incredible is the utter lack of reaction from the Minister for Health to this crisis. Last year, following a report showing that families were going without needed health care because of the cost of GP visits, Sinn Féin put in a Parliamentary Question to the Minister asking what she intended to do about this. Her response? That a GP's charges are a "private matter" between the GP and their patients, and that it's none of her department's concern.

This, of course, is nonsense. High GP costs result in more people seeking routine treatment in A&E wards, as well as sometimes causing minor and easily-treatable illnesses to become serious and thus require hospital care. If Mary Harney honestly does not believe that this is her department's concern, she's in the wrong department.

At the time of the cabinet reshuffle I said that it was absolutely insane for her to be given this post. After all, two of the issues which most energised the electorate to vote against the Government in 2004 were the PDs and health care. So putting a PD in charge of health care was probably the Government's least logical response. Judging from the latest polls, it appears I may have been right.