Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

I have been a Deputy for a short while and was a councillor for 12 years. During that time, I have witnessed constant attacks on hospital services. With my colleague, Mr. Paul Donnelly, I have been involved in the Save Connolly Hospital A&E campaign. Connolly Hospital has been a lifeline for people in Finglas and on its borders. It covers Dunsoghly, Blanchardstown and Castleknock, which form part of my catchment area. It also caters for more than 330,000 people across counties Meath and Dublin and on the commuter belt. Thousands of new homes were bought by people who moved to the area in the expectation that the services available to them in Connolly Hospital would be second to none.

In the past 20 years, there has been an incremental erosion of public health care services. It started when we first introduced charges on patients attending hospitals. Ever since, the public health care system has suffered. The system 20 years ago was not perfect, but it was better because it was public. Privatisation has driven us to this point. The selling off of hospital beds and hospital lands and the use of public health care services for private patients have been scandalous.

The Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government and the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government are one and the same. They have followed the same hospital policies. Some €20 million has been cut from Connolly Hospital's budget of approximately €108 million. That is a full fifth.

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