John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Does Mr. Moloney know what I would do with the Department? I would put it on a budget of zero. I would ask the officials to prove every figure that they are asking for because they do not deserve to get the €22 billion based on what they have told me. This is how I measure things.

Mr. Moloney said to the committee that we have the best-funded health service in Europe. Deputy Conway-Walsh took issue with him on that, and correctly so, and this is why. There are two measurements. How is my company being run and is it profitable? No, it is not. How are my customers doing out there? Are they happy with me and my product? I would say about the HSE that no, it is not.

The Caredoc nurses are wondering why they have not been part of the negotiations and why they are being left outside, when actually at one stage, they were inside the tent. Here is a note from the parent of a patient:

We presented at the accident and emergency department three weeks ago with our 14-year-old daughter who was suicidal, self-harming, paranoid, depressed, anxious, seeing and hearing people that were not there. The staff in the hospital were great with her. She was told she would have to wait for a CAMHS service from Friday to Monday.

For three nights she sat with her child and was worried about what was going to happen and what services would be available. No services came on Monday and nothing much has materialised since. That is just one case. There is another case where a 14-year-old went to accident and emergency department and they were told that there were no services. The child was sedated over the weekend. No CAMHS staff have turned up to help that woman; none.

Then, there is the carry-on with the section 42 report, which apparently cost €42 million. It was agreed at the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, that the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform was to find a method to pay it. The WRC met on 3 November to see how the management parties would arrange to pay the €42 million. Mr. Moloney's officials did not even turn up. They did not turn up and I think that is shocking. I ask Mr. Moloney to provide this committee with a report on that issue and tell us why they did not turn up.

Constituents have been writing to me about high-tech medications. They read in the paper that zero allocated in budget 2024. They are now in a state of panic because they are on these medications for life. What are they to do? People are coming to me who have medical cards who are telling me that because they are getting replacement medicines, they are not covered by the card. They are being asked to pay at the pharmacy for medication to replace the medication that is simply not available now. These are people on hormone replacement therapy, HRT, and people with asthma who are not able to get their medication in the way they did before and no one seems to be responding. To me, that shows that the system, Department of Health and HSE are in crisis. Mr. Moloney's Department is as much to blame because it is over them.

The Department is supposedly delivering oversight and is insisting on reform. I want to know what it is doing about those issues.