Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Tá Sinn Féin leis an Taoiseach agus leis an Teachta Martin maidir leis an tubaiste millteanach a tharla ag an deireadh seachtaine. Tá ár smaointe le teaghlaigh na hiascairí. Beidh pobal an cheantair faoi dhobrón ar feadh tamall. Caithfear tacaíocht a thabhairt dóibh agus d'iascairí na hÉireann. I join the Taoiseach and Deputy Martin in extending solidarity to the families of the fishermen who are lost at sea off the coast of Cork. Our thoughts are with their families.

The Minister for Health proposes to close between 550 and 900 public beds in community nursing homes this year. Some homes will close entirely. The Government's plan, to which the Labour Party has signed up, has been unveiled and will mean the loss of acute hospital beds, cuts to community mental health and disability services, 3,300 staff cuts and a fall of 500,000 in the number of home help hours, and the planned bowel cancer screening programme has been put back to the end of the year.

These are the Taoiseach's choices. It is his Government's plan, its strategy and its programme. This confirms that the health and welfare of people is to be sacrificed by Fine Gael and Labour in pursuit of a failed economic strategy that is destroying public services, employment and economic growth. The people, particularly vulnerable elderly people in nursing homes, are in the grip of fear and some despair, including in my own constituency in nursing homes at Drogheda and Ardee. Staff, elderly patients and their families want clarity. The plan is short on detail. I have yet to hear of any proposal from the Minister for Health or the Taoiseach to bring this forward for discussion here. Will the Government provide this detail, including identifying those community nursing hospitals that will be closed?

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