Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is a Government elected in a crisis which promised stability but now faces into election on the motto of the British Tories of offering chaos or stability. For many it is clear that the people offering chaos are actually Fine Gael and the Labour Party. Certainly for those in housing need, those who have lost their homes, those who are sick or disabled, young adults, those entering retirement and those with mental health issues, this is a Government of chaos. There is no stability for the people of this country who find themselves in need of the basic services the State should provide. There is no clearer example of this instability than our accident and emergency departments where hard-pressed doctors and nurses struggle to deal with overcrowded waiting rooms backing onto overcrowded halls lined with trolleys, often occupied by elderly people for extended periods that are utterly unacceptable in any context.

In my area of Dublin, Beaumont Hospital, James Connolly Hospital and the Mater struggle to meet the needs of patients every day. I read last week of a Mr. James Coyle of Cabra, a 72 year old man, who had to sleep overnight and be treated in a chair. He praised the staff who were doing their best in a desperate situation. The accident and emergency department had to close its doors for a period after Mr. Coyle arrived because it simply could not do any more. Not only is the system placing great hardship and suffering on those in need of care, it is breaking the backs of those caregivers whom we often hear lauded by the Government as long, that is, as they are not threatening strikes or stoppages or asking the Government to do more. We often hear people being told to stay away from accident and emergency unless absolutely necessary. One has to wonder in this crisis who would go to accident and emergency unless there was no other option, which begs the question of how many people in need of care are staying away due to the widespread knowledge of the severity of this very real crisis. This is a major threat to public health, health workers and our families and loved ones. Speaking of Tallaght hospital, Dr. James Gray said of one patient:

This man, like the others in non-designated patient conduits, had no privacy, no dignity, was subject to constant noise torture, constant light torture, resulting in major sleep deprivation and pressure effects causing pain as a result of lying for an advanced period on a trolley not designated for same, as well as boarding conditions that constitute an infection control hazard.

In its eagerness to commemorate the Battle of the Somme, it seems the Government has sought to recreate its conditions in our hospitals. The Government will claim it inherited this mess. While that may have a kernel of truth, it would be fairer to say that the Government has compounded and exacerbated the mess. This is the result of a failure to reform the health service, to tackle its two-tier nature, to refocus funding to where it is needed and to treat nurses and front-line doctors with the dignity and respect they deserve. It is the result of five years of grinding austerity which has chiselled away at the foundations of the health service while the Government hoped and prayed for a saviour in the form of private health insurance.

In our most recent budget document, Sinn Féin showed how the Government could invest an additional €383 million in health. This would have tackled the trolley crisis, improved ambulance cover and disability services and reduced waiting times and prescription charges. Predictably, it was ignored by this austerity Government. We followed that document with the launch of our costed, staged and realistic plan for health to undo the damage of this and previous Governments. People with mental health issues are being turned away from accident and emergency departments. Often, there is no psychiatrist on hand, particularly at weekends. Many who need urgent and immediate help are left for hours on end. The winding down of mental health services delivered locally in Drumcondra, Clontarf and Ballymun and centralised on the North Circular Road is another example of the doublespeak of the Government. In A Vision for Change, the Government outlined how mental health services would be delivered locally. Tús Nua in Ballymun, which worked with more than 30 people at one stage, is now being wound down and, in effect, removed from the area.

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