Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the contributions of all Deputies. While the views expressed on the Government side of the House were much more couched and nuanced in their criticism, the overriding fact cannot be denied. Our health service is in crisis. Many Deputies on the Minister's side of the House alluded to this fact. Some Deputies will come in and read scripts from the various press offices of Fine Gael and the Labour Party, to condemn us for highlighting what is a topic of discussion on every airwave and in every newspaper and in the emergency departments, hospital canteens and homes throughout the country. The health services are in crisis. The first issue in dealing with any problem is to acknowledge that there is a problem, and the Government must do so. We were accused of tabling a motion that was long on aspiration. The Minister's amendment is much longer on aspiration. It is also much longer on deceit. It is like something from Alice in Wonderland. It does not tally with reality. The Minister should have tabled the following amendment:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:

“acknowledges:

— that we have broken most of our promises, and notes in particular that we broke promises in the area of the fair deal, discretionary medical cards and the drug reimbursement scheme

— that we have driven nurses from the country because of the graduate scheme which was recently introduced

— that we have driven our consultants and GPs from the country and consistently undermined the basic infrastructure of delivering health services, namely, the human resource element, the staff who are working day and night to try to provide a service that is not being resourced by the commitments the Government said it would make in its general election mandate.

Either the Government sought a dishonest mandate, or it has been incapable of delivering on the promises it made. Either way, it does not augur well for the health services.

While the motion refers primarily to the emergency departments in our hospitals, there have been continual U-turns on universal health insurance and the privatisation of hospital management, a move that was roundly condemned in the context of the establishment of hospital groups through the wording of reconfiguration. Our motion aims to highlight the deficiencies in our health services but also to highlight the inadequacies of the Government’s response and its handling of the core issues on a daily basis.

We have appalling stories from families whose loved ones have been visiting emergency departments throughout the country. People who are charged by the HSE and the Government with overseeing patient safety are speaking out by telling the Minister that our emergency departments need help because patients' lives are being put at risk. Those who are charged directly by the Minister and the HSE with caring for patients in our emergency departments have brought it to our attention that in recent times, patients aged 91, 93 and 100 years of age have had to wait inordinate lengths of time on trolleys in emergency departments. When they speak up and ask the Minister for help, the Minister vilifies them, undermines them and says they have agendas. The only agenda I have found when speaking to people who work in emergency departments is a desire to provide safe and adequate care in a timely fashion to those who present at their departments.

The Minister and the Minister of State have to get their act together. They need to acknowledge that they have singularly failed. There has been a consistent failing in the delivery of the budget. We recently had another bogus budget, just as we have had every year since this Government came into office. The backdrop against which the budgets in question have been delivered is almost laughable. Every year, we need a supplementary budget towards the end of the year to keep the lights on and ensure the staff are paid. That is how our health service is being managed.

I make no apologies for tabling this motion. I did not do so just to have a cheap shot at the Government. I tabled it because of the hundreds of e-mails that are sent continually to our offices by general practitioners, nurses, consultants, non-consultant hospital doctors and public representatives of all parties. We frequently table Dáil questions with those representations in mind and we have tabled this motion in the same spirit. There is a despair among those attending emergency departments and those working to deliver health care in those departments. I condemn the Government's actions and I commend the motion to the House.

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