Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

I support the Labour Party motion. In addressing the motion, I say shame on the Taoiseach, who last week had the audacity to blame health service workers for the mess his Government and Ministers have made of the health service in this country. I can tell the Taoiseach that health service workers, with whom I have worked for 21 years in the acute services, work above and beyond the call of duty. The Taoiseach and Government should place the blame where it lies — on the shoulders of the Taoiseach, the Government and the procession of Ministers for Health and Children over the last ten years.

This motion calls for the Irish people to be entitled to a health service that delivers excellence, quality and efficiency and that financial means must not be a barrier to receiving the highest quality of care. A number of areas where there is a shameful lack of attention must be addressed. The BreastCheck programme has not been fully rolled out, particularly in the south. In south Tipperary there is a long waiting list for services such as orthodontics. The standards in the service are totally out of date and huge numbers of children cannot avail of it. Their parents are forced to pay thousands of euros for their children. I regularly come across elderly people looking for hearing aids; the waiting list for a 78 year old man for a hearing aid is 15 months.

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