Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Seamus Healy.

I thank the Acting Chairman for giving me the opportunity to speak in this very important debate about the urgent need to do something practical to assist and support patients and staff in our health service. Over the past few weeks, the Independent Alliance has been pushing the major issues relating to the crisis in our health service. At times, we have been criticised by some for doing so. I make no apologies for going into talks to try to resolve the crisis, particularly with regard to the number of people on trolleys and on waiting lists, sick children, people with cystic fibrosis and people with physical or intellectual disabilities. I gave a commitment that I would go in and fight for them, and that is what I am doing every day.

There are many issues relating to the health service, but I have priority issues that I want any future Government to deal with. They include the number of people on trolleys, particularly at Beaumont Hospital, where a crisis exists. Deputy Mitchell said that there were 37 people on trolleys there yesterday. That is not acceptable in any society. It is not acceptable when people gave Deputies a mandate to come in to resolve these issues. There are also problems relating to services for very ill children. Adults and children with cystic fibrosis urgently need services. We also need urgent care for our senior citizens. Above all, we need radical reform and investment in our health service. That is where I stand and that is what I am trying to do. Staying off the pitch in respect of health should never be an option for any Member of the Oireachtas. I agree with some of the points made by my colleagues earlier. I would like to see cross-party consensus. We are in a new Dáil and we are supposed to have a new politics. Let us get on with it.

I accept that we all want a decent health service, but we must face the reality that we must pay for it. That will have to come from general taxation. It will not be popular with some people, including the tax cuts brigade. We also need structural change in our health service. We can start with small changes. We talked about the 37 people on trolleys at Beaumont Hospital. We should target areas like that. We can also start with cystic fibrosis, including the need for 20 cystic fibrosis beds in Beaumont Hospital. We can start small and develop and build on that. The important thing is that we must change the mindset in respect of the management and governance of our health service.

We should not be afraid to say that we have examples of good practice in our health service. We have fantastic doctors and nurses working in our health service. I have spoken about how there should be a cystic fibrosis unit at Beaumont Hospital. A unit opened recently at St. Vincent's University Hospital, for which many of us campaigned for many years. It contains 30 beds in separate rooms with no risk of cross-infection. That is an example of something that is working every day. Those people were taken out of accident and emergency departments and can go straight into an individualised service. We should look at the examples of good practice and implement them and look at examples of bad practice and deal with them.

In respect of this broader debate, politicians should stop beating up our consultants, which is a very popular thing for them to do. We have many top-class consultants. We should stop driving them out of the country. A professional footballer across the water can earn €120,000 per week, yet we have a problem paying some of our consultants their salaries. These consultants, who politicians think are on mega-salaries, also use those salaries to employ staff. I know it is not popular to defend them. I was in Beaumont Hospital last night with a friend who is getting over a major cancer operation. The consultant delivered for that patient. What a talented person to have delivering a service like that at Beaumont Hospital. It might be populist to beat up consultants in the media, including on television and radio, but politicians should stop doing it. The same goes for nurses. There are nurses on low pay.

There are many issues relating to the health service, and I strongly support the call by a number of colleagues for a cross-party consensus to hammer out solutions for the health service.

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