Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and welcome Ms Mullins, Councillors Bourke and Dunne and all the people from the other areas who are up here. It is so sad that ordinary people like Ms Mullins, who is a busy woman running her own business, must come up at their own expense and take time off work to deal with a stone wall. The committee requested the minutes of the meeting and got them with so much redaction.

It is an insult to the intelligence of Members of the Oireachtas, the public in general and the people of Carrick-an-Suir and south Tipperary, south-east Kilkenny and west Waterford. I will not beat around the bush with names. I lay the blame for this closure at the feet of the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and older people, Deputy Butler. This is her area. We found out since that hospice beds have been put into the University Hospital Waterford. I am not going into the history.

This is a fabulous, functioning facility. I have often been in there to see people and to attend events over the years. Fundraising events were held to fund those three wonderful hospice suites, the replacement of windows and work on other parts of the hospital. What is happening is a crying shame. We see that for parts of Africa in respect of which we fundraise in order to build hospitals there and to help priests build churches. That is fine. When I first entered politics, the HSE had a turnover of about €1.5 billion. Now it is nearly €25 billion. There is such waste. I am glad that Ms Mullins gave an overview of this white elephant. I will visit it. They built that - and I put this to the architect - with no lift. It is hard to imagine a modern public medical building with no wheelchair access. If we want to build something or put in a downstairs toilet, we have to have ramps of specified lengths. Housing adaptation grants for people with disabilities are hard to get but they are of great assistance to individuals who want to remain at home. Yet, they could build without that. Then there was an add-on. I was shocked to discover that there is a set of steps leading up to the door where people ring the bell. I am shocked that the bell has been out of action for some time. I am completely shocked that the seating inside is not the proper height for people. That goes to show how the senior management in the HSE view patients and the public who use the service. They do not give a toss.

It was mentioned earlier that they could not understand how there was space for offices in the facility in Loughrea. Offices are what they want. My wife is a psychiatric nurse. She works in St. Luke’s in Clonmel. That is all closed. Half of that hospital is now offices. The offices are better than the ones in Government Buildings. They want more offices. It is high time we had an audit of the number of offices.

The hospice in Clonmel used a great deal of money to put beds into St. Joseph’s, as I call it, and South Tipperary General Hospital. We identified two rooms in 2004 when I was chair of the council. Agreement was reached and when the hospital was refitted, offices were put in there. St. Anthony’s ward was supposed to get three palliative care beds. There is only one. We are fighting to get a second. The lovely spaces in Carrick and Cloneen were funded by the public. This new 60-bed St. Anthony’s ward in Clonmel will only have one family room to deal with all the others as well as the hospice. That tells us how uncaring they are in regard to the hospital. The people of Carrick have protested but the HSE does not care because Ministers allow it to do this. It is the same with RTÉ. The situation regarding the latter is getting worse by the hour today according to the reports I received when we took a break. This is the same. There is no accountability or transparency, just arrogance. It sent out that thing today with all the legal waste. What are they hiding? Who are they hiding it from? How dare they hide stuff from us? By God Almighty, if Dan Breen and other people were here, they would not hide it. I am not being aggressive in any way but it is scandalous that they can do this.

The white elephant they talked about is two thirds empty. It will fall down, but the hospital will still be standing. The hospital has never been flooded in 183 years. This is a mockery. HIQA will close down nursing homes, just as the one in Carrick was closed down, or pressurise them. HIQA broke the owner. I was dealing with her at the time. They will not go in. They cannot see their own nose inside the hospital where trolleys are blocking corridors. Bed blockers cannot get into these places. The staff in St. Brigid’s were treated appallingly as well. It was fit for purpose before the onset of Covid-19. However, it was also found to be fit for purpose when the pandemic arrived. Suddenly, it is no longer fit for purpose for anything. It is just an excuse to close these places. They are being closed throughout the country.

One of the biggest issues I see with the HSE and the Department of Health over the past 20 years is the rush to change all the Catholic names of the hospitals and to remove all the Christian symbols, statues and everything else. What is going on, namely, what they are doing to the people of Ireland and those who want these services, is bordering on satanic. They are being thrown to the wind. We lost our mental health service at St. Michael’s. We got nothing but we were promised everything under A Vision for Change. They have visions for everything, but the vision I see now is self-endearing and self-engendering promotion of the top jobs with massive wages, expenses, travelling expenses, reports and trips abroad to look at this or that system. The HSE has cannibalised itself. Two former taoisigh, Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen, told me that they would stand down the HSE. The Government should have the gumption to do that because it is a monster.

I do not want to be political but I would love to see commitment from Sinn Féin - that party is going to be in the next Government - that it will reopen St. Brigid’s. I want that commitment to be made because the people of Carrick, south Kilkenny and west Waterford deserve it. They deserve these beds. We should not have to do council work today. There are a dozen others. We have enough to do. The time for this charade is over. I have brought motions before the House about the national children's hospital. I reminded the head spokesman earlier that Sinn Féin and all voted for the hospital to be built at the location that was chosen. I hate to be political but facts are facts. We need to-----