Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, while this Government outlined its budget measures for 2016, 469 people lay on trolleys in hospitals across this State. While it glorified a budget that will give €181.9 million back in taxes to the top 14% of earners, nurses at St. Vincent's University Hospital began a work-to-rule in protest at the appalling conditions staff and patients are subjected to on a daily basis.

The additional funding allocation announced yesterday for health amounts in real terms to a miserable €18 million, the lowest additional allocation of the seven named Departments in the Government's budget 2016 new expenditure measures.

This is a damning indictment of this Fine Gael-Labour Government and shows that it is refusing to listen to the concerns of patients and staff. Emergency department services have been at crisis point for a very long time, as highlighted daily by the trolley watch survey carried out by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. During September this year there were a shocking 7,630 patients on trolleys. This represents a 17% increase, when compared to September 2014.

I acknowledge that an additional 440 beds have been promised and are to be made available before Christmas. While this is a step in the right direction it is still wholly inadequate, not least because there are not enough staff in place to manage the number of beds promised. This will only work if additional nurses and support staff are employed. Adequate funding is necessary but the current problems will not be abated any time soon by yesterday's announcement. As we face into another winter the crisis will not only endure but will deepen across our hospital sites.

I note with interest that the Government has said that the extension of free general practitioner care for children aged under 12 will cost €10 million. When costing this measure through parliamentary questions I tabled, the Department for Public Expenditure and Reform told us that the cost of the same measure would be €39 million. It would therefore appear that the Government has set aside money only for the last quarter of 2016 and has totally ignored the real cost over a full year. Why can it not be up front and honest with the people? This massaging of the facts and the figures is frankly a disgrace and shows that this measure is all about the election and nothing else.

In addition, the approach is far from what is actually now needed and most appropriate. As outlined in our alternative budget, medical need and household income should be the priority for the interim roll-out of free GP care, pending universal delivery. This view is supported by many, including the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. I would also like to remind the Government that in its 2011 programme for Government the Fine Gael and Labour Party's original intention was to prioritise medical need in the roll-out of free GP care. This commitment to those with chronic illness and disability has long since been abandoned by this Government which has engaged in a long series of U-turns, sell-outs and betrayals. In our alternative budget Sinn Féin committed to a €383 million additional spend on health. It is spending of this magnitude that is urgently required and we have shown how this is possible. I call on the Government to read what we propose. Urgent action is needed to address these pressing issues, to ensure patient safety and to alleviate the pressure on staff who are forced to deal with the consequences of a health system that is falling apart.

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