Patrick Nulty (Dublin West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs for introducing the aftercare amendment Bill in which she has had a long-term interest. As other Deputies have said, the ordering of business in the Dáil this week is shambolic with set-piece speeches to be delivered. It is a farce given the serious crisis issues facing many people in our community to allow this type of debate to take place.

I am disappointed the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, ran out of the Chamber just now because I wanted to tell him what is actually happening in our health service. His speech would not have been out of place in a George Orwell novel because it had no root in reality. If one talks to those working on the front line in the health services, from community services to acute hospitals, they will all say the health service is in crisis. For example, Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, in my constituency has a massive catchment area. I speak to staff in that hospital every week. Last week, I spoke to several front-line workers there who told me about the low levels of morale and all-time high levels of stress and fear for the future for the health services among health staff. Experienced workers in the health service told me unreasonable demands were being made of reasonable people who are concerned for their patients.

The one element not driving the Government’s health policy is an absolute commitment to the right to health care and to patients’ interests. I have spoken to very ill patients who were left sitting on chairs in Connolly Hospital accident and emergency unit for eight hours. Staff were run off their feet with chaos at the department. This is a direct result of the Government’s policy on recruitment embargoes while hiring agency workers rather than employing nurses full time. This, in turn, prevents opening up beds to alleviate capacity in acute hospitals.

I know of very ill people on serious and costly medication who have had medical cards for over ten years but now the Health Service Executive has decided they do not qualify for the card. That is another direct result of the Government’s policy. Its strategy is to outline its reduction in expenditure in health, social protection and housing but pass it off to bureaucracies to implement. That allows Government backbenchers to blame the HSE, claiming it is a technical issue when, in fact, there is massive pressure put on these agencies to slash expenditure. Health is a demand-led service due to medical need but the Government’s policy is governed by driving down costs, coupled with a lack of co-ordination in how we deliver health services.

The crisis in our housing system was raised this morning with the Minister for Social Protection. Her response was derisory and insulting to those on housing waiting lists. The reality is that we have 100,000 families on housing waiting lists and a massive building programme is required to address this. Not only would that create jobs and reduce social protection expenditure, it would also deal with the crisis. I am aware of numerous examples of families who do not know if they will have a roof over their heads next month. This matter was raised with the Taoiseach yesterday on Leaders’ Questions. What did he say in reply? “Sure, God love them”. That was his response to a housing crisis because he is not knowledgeable and is ill-informed about what is actually happening to our citizens. We are not talking about long-term homeless people with addiction issues and so forth. We are talking about numerous families who cannot meet the rents demanded by landlords.

One obvious solution is that instead of paying rent supplement, the Government develops a scheme to acquire houses from landlords on a long-term basis while using the rent supplement scheme as a mortgage payment.

Not only would this increase the social housing stock and represent the acquisition of assets for the State, it would also help the housing waiting lists. That is one solution the Government has refused to consider. A stimulus plan for housing is another solution. The changes announced in the recent budget do not even reach the tip of the iceberg with regard to this crisis. Will the Government explain to families sitting at home watching this debate and wondering how they will provide a roof over the heads of their children what it expects them to do?

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