Minister for Health and Children (Ireland)

The Minister for Health and Children ( _ga. Aire Sláinte agus Leanaí) is the senior minister at the Department of Health and Children in the Government of Ireland and is responsible for health care in the Republic of Ireland and related services.

The current Minister for Health and Children is Mary Harney, TD. She is assisted by:
*Barry Andrews, TD – Minister of State for Children and Youth Affairs.
*Máire Hoctor, TD – Minister of State for Older People.
*John Moloney, TD – Minister of State for Equality, Disability Issues and Mental Health.
*Mary Wallace, TD – Minister of State for Health Promotion and Food Safety.

Health care formed part of the portfolio of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health until 22 January 1947. On that date the new position of Minister for Health was created, with complete control over all policy regarding health care provision in Ireland. In later years, the health portfolio was occasionally coupled with that for social welfare portfolio, in which case the incumbent was known as the Minister for Health and Social Welfare.

In recent years, and especially since the tenure of Michael Noonan in 1994–1997, being appointed as minister has become somewhat of a "poisoned chalice" in government circles and a portfolio to be avoided by aspiring politicians, during his tenure Brian Cowen famously referred to the Department of Health as "Angola" due the fact that there were landmines everywhere. [cite web
url=http://www.irishhealth.com/index.html?level=4&id=4514
title=Heath – review of the year
author=Fergal Bowers
publisher=IrishHealth.com
date=2003-01-01
accessdate=2008-05-15] A number of scandals, mostly due to medical negligence, have meant that the minister immediately becomes identified with the scandal. For instance the Hepatitis C scandal, the withholding of baby organs without parental consent or knowledge, the Michael Neary saga in Drogheda and other high profile medical scandals have dogged the minister and department. Additionally the minister has to deal with logistic issues not seen in other departments such as strikes, shortages and queues which are all to familiar in clinics and hospitals around the country.

Overview

The Minister's duties include the creation and assessment of policy for the health services. The main policy sections of the Department, together with their responsibilities, are:

Child Care

*Child care legislation
*National Children's Office

Continuing Care

*Services for homeless adults
*Services for people with disabilities
*Services for the elderly and palliative care

Finance

*Health insurance
*Hospital planning
*Public-Private Partnerships

Personnel Management and Development

*Nursing policy
*Personnel management and development

Primary Care

*Community health (child health, dental services, AIDS, reproductive health)
*General medical services

econdary Care

*Blood policy
*Hospital services

trategic Policy and Corporate Services

*Corporate Services
*Health promotion
*Health Strategy Legislation

List of office-holders

The asterisk (*) indicates ministers who held the Health and Social Welfare portfolios simultaneously.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.dohc.ie/ Department of Health and Children]
* [http://www.hiqa.ie/ Health Information and Quality Authority]