Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As this is my first opportunity to speak in the Thirty-second Dáil, I thank the people of County Clare for placing their trust in me again. It is a huge honour and privilege to have been elected to Dáil Éireann on three occasions.

As the previous speaker said, health has been an issue in this country for many years, through good and bad times. It must be remembered that when the public coffers were strongest during the Celtic tiger era we had a trolley crisis, as described by the then Minister for Health, Mary Harney. Unfortunately, the Ireland of today still has faults and failings in this respect. We have not addressed the issues well enough in the mid-west region, including Counties Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary. For example, today 41 people are waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick. This is not acceptable and a solution is required. While there is a state-of-the-art accident and emergency unit under construction at University Hospital Limerick, with a completion date of quarter one in 2017, this will not solve the problem. More use must be made of the model 2 hospitals in Ennis, Nenagh and St. John’s in Limerick.

Ten years ago, for example, public confidence in Ennis general hospital was at an all time low. This happened because of very tragic misdiagnoses and because hospital acquired infections such as MRSA and C. difficile were rampant. Thankfully, following investment, a new 50-bed wing of the hospital has been opened. It complies with the Strategy for the control of Antimicrobial Resistance in Ireland, SARI. We no longer have to deal with hospital acquired infections; we have a modern, safe facility now. It is fit for purpose but we must make more use of it. We need to build on the progress that has been made.

The HSE has failed utterly to communicate with the public what services are available in Ennis, such as the opening hours of the medical assessment and minor injuries units. We need to tell people what services they can get at Ennis and how to access them. I welcome the fact that the opening hours at the medical assessment unit have been extended.

An announcement was made this week by Professor Cowan, the CEO of the UL hospitals group. I welcome that the hospital will be open on Saturdays and Sundays from next month. That is long overdue. It is an issue I have pushed as a Deputy. I welcomed the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, to Ennis last year and I raised it with him and his team on that occasion. It has taken that long to make it happen.

I also welcome the discussion to establish a cross-party consensus on health. This is a new Dáil and we have a new opportunity. We have set up committees on housing and Dáil reform. We should also consider establishing a new high-powered committee on health where every Deputy can have a say and put forward solutions instead of pointing out the problems. We need solutions on health.

We need to make progress on a primary health care centre in Ennis. The key elements of bringing together a team of GPs and securing an appropriate building are in place. I have been dealing with groups on the ground in Ennis. I appeal to the HSE to redouble its efforts to make a primary health care centre in Ennis a priority. We need to divert more people away from University Hospital Limerick and provide them with an alternative location to be dealt with. I believe primary health care centres represent the way to go. The progress in Ennis has been far too slow. I appeal to the HSE to redouble its efforts in that regard.

See this speech in context