The comedian Groucho Marx once said, “These are my principles. If you don’t like them….. I’ve got others!” Sometimes you feel old Groucho would have made a politician if he was prepared to ditch his morals with such ease.

Such is the perception that a politician and his principles are easily parted that we had eyebrows raised and there was an element of controversy when the new Health Minister, Jim Wells insisted this week that, actually, he wouldn’t leave his Christian values at the door when he entered Stormont.

Ah, Christian values. That’s different. We rubbish our politicians if they abandon honest principle, except, of course, we expect those with Christian principles to ditch them as soon as. Do you see the contradiction?

I, for one, don’t have any issue with any politician being principled. Let’s have more of ‘em.

The difficulty, of course, is that Mr. Wells is a Minister in a secular society and while he can and should have his own moral compass, there will be times when there will be a conflict when he shouldn’t impose his value in an unequal way. His predecessor Edwin Poots became embroiled in a legal wrangle involving his banning of blood donations from practising gay men.

Being fair and equal to non-Christians while retaining one’s Christianity is a difficulty for Mr. Wells, but one he must balance. At a distance, he appears a genuine and decent man. Likeable even; not something I’ve ever accused Edwin Poots of being.

When Mr. Wells came to office, the immediate debate was about his view on abortion. He backed the right to life lobby and, I suspect, that many voters in Northern Ireland would back him on that; though a poll in this week’s Belfast Telegraph suggests there is an increasing demand for reform.

The debate about abortion reform is an important issue, and one which the Health Minister should be legitimately questioned on. But, there is much more in the new man’s in-tray.

Nothing that another £180million wouldn’t cure, he may think.

Surely, though, the issues facing our health service go far deeper than money. How we spend the money, and the lines of responsibility and accountability of our health service should be looked at.

I’m told, for example, that morale among service staff at our new South-West Acute Hospital is particularly low after they felt intimidated following a meeting about lack of money in the Western Health Trust budget. How many executives on bumper salaries have been similarly warned about taking time off and sickness records? Indeed, how much money has been saved by reducing bloated bureaucracy across the health service?

It’s not so simple; but as far as I’m concerned we need to put what limited money we have into the “front line”, the people who are caring directly for patients who should be our first priority. This week, I was told of two people who were waiting for important appointments which were cancelled at the last minute, meaning real worry for them. Things like this can’t be right.

So what are we doing about it? I was emotional last Thursday when I read in the Impartial the stories of people in this area who are suffering from cancer. We need services here, but at Monday night’s Fermanagh Council meeting this subject, which affects so many people here, wasn’t even discussed.

So, I hope our Councillors do the people a service next week when they meet Health Trust executives and passionately put our case. Will that do any good? Let’s see.

Northern Ireland-wide, we’re lagging behind in making drugs available to cancer patients. A protest brought to Mr. Wells this week points out that 40 cancer drugs available to patients in England, Scotland and Wales are not available to sufferers in Northern Ireland.

And it’s not just the health service. The controversy over welfare reform has taken on a life of its own; amid the cross-party fire, we’ve managed to lose sight over the real issue. How do we look after the vulnerable people in society, how do we spend the money properly?

On radio this week, a man who had a leg blown off in a bomb in 1972 revealed that he gets £3,500 a year to help him with the practicalities of disabled living. Now, it’s been taken away.

And the reporting by Steven McCaffery on thedetail website, when he points out that 3,000 people wounded and traumatised by violence here will lose support, makes harrowing reading. Two bomb victims, one blinded and another who lost both her legs, are among those featured.

All the bluster about looking after victims and survivors rings hollow, surely? Dealing with the past has entered the political arena, but what about dealing with those suffering in the present.

It seems that when it comes to our society, we have people suffering from cancer, people suffering from mental and physical health problems because of the Troubles, people who’ve fallen on hard times because they’ve lost their jobs and are on benefits. And so on.

Don’t get me wrong, I know things are tight in terms of financial resources.

But, some of the things we waste public money on are ridiculous.

Spend it on the vulnerable people who are sick or need treatment. Spend it on the victims who need it to help their everyday lives, rather than jolly trips. Spend it properly on educating our young people to compete in the future.

On policing that makes people safe. And yes, on events which boost culture and bring business into the county.

In terms of complicated budgetary matters, this may all seem simplistic. But if we’re talking principles, it’s a better place to start than the instead of dismantling and destroying the welfare state.

Politicians at Stormont are there for the greater good of the people; despite what we say about them, that’s why they got into politics in the first place and, by and large, they are principled people.