Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I get worried when the Taoiseach says my question is a good one.

I do not agree with the Taoiseach that mental health service has been a Cinderella area in the past ten years. In fact there was very significant concrete investment in health from 1998 or 1999 onwards with additional funding and staff. We know that numbers in the health services expanded significantly. The key point is the Taoiseach's last point that the posts are net posts to the mental health services. As we know, in the past three years there has been a significant reduction in overall public service numbers and particularly in the health service. We are hearing many stories from people in maternity services and so on who are really experiencing great difficulty on the front line in terms of having sufficient staff to provide an adequate care pathway for patients. I am hearing from nurses in particular that patient care is being jeopardised on a daily basis because of the lack of staff on hospital wards.

In recent years there seems to have been a suppression of any articulation of dissent or concern by HSE staff. People on the front line are no longer allowed to speak out on issues in the health service. There is a fear across the health service that it may not be good for people's careers to speak out about these things and so they are better off saying nothing.

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