Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate and wish to begin by congratulating the two Ministers of State and wishing them well in their new roles. It is a sign of the times that we are having this debate and that the Government which is made up of Fine Gael Ministers supported by Independents, acknowledges that there is wisdom in all areas of policy formation other than that found on the Government benches. We have lived through a period of five years when whatever was said by anybody on this side of the House was usually rubbished, when Opposition Deputies were accused of scaremongering and saying things for political advantage. In fact, sometimes Members on this side of the House were merely raising awareness of some of the critical issues faced by men and women in the communities we represented. To strike a note of caution, perhaps if Members on the other side of the House had listened to Members on this side a little more often during those five years, they might not be relying on Members on this side to ensure the adoption of policies into the future. However, I welcome the new composition of the Dáil and look forward, as the previous speaker said, to engaging constructively with the Government on how we can make the necessary improvements that will ultimately benefit the people whom we are fortunate enough and honoured to represent.

To strike another note of caution, I hope the new committee is not being set up ultimately to deflect responsibility if the necessary improvements are not made in the lifetime of the Government. Unfortunately, when one looks back at what was promised in 2011 and what was delivered by 2016, many of the improvements in the health service were simply not delivered. Elderly people are now waiting possibly three times longer for standard hip or knee replacements than in 2011. Only last week an elderly person aged 81 years from County Longford contacted me about the severe pain he was in and looking to find out whether there might be any way his operation might be expedited. I wrote to a particular hospital about this patient and stated he was quite visibly in awful pain. To my surprise, on Monday the surgeon in that hospital rang me to tell me that he could not disagree with one thing I had written in my letter. He asked me to use my position as a Member of Dáil Éireann to say the hospital did not have the money to carry out operations and that he could be performing five operations a day but was currently only allowed to perform two. I asked him innocently how long it took him to perform the two operations. I remember that I asked him at about 11.45 a.m. by which time he said he had performed the operations to be performed that day. I asked what he would do for the rest of the day. He said he would have his lunch and probably read the Medical Timesand then go home because he did not have any more work to do. Surely no one in this House can say that that is appropriate. Surely no one can stand over not giving highly qualified staff working in publicly funded hospitals and being paid from taxpayers' money the necessary funding to carry out the work that needs to be done, given that all the time people are suffering, in pain and on long waiting lists. The two Ministers of State will need to address this issue speedily.

I wish to take the opportunity to speak about the disability sector. It is yet another sector that needs radical attention. In my constituency two people have been evaluated separately and had personal assistant hours approved. One lady aged 43 years is practically confined to bed and totally reliant on her elderly parents to provide full-time care. The HSE acknowledges that she needs assistance and has awarded her a number of hours but - wait for it - it does not have the funding to actually give a personal assistant for these hours. It states, however, that if she wants to go into a nursing home, she can avail of the fair deal scheme.

In a similar case a 62 year old man had a stroke more than 15 years ago. His wife provided full-time care for him. Unfortunately, she passed away from cancer three months ago. Who is to look after him now? The HSE has been contacted and evaluated his case. Again, it has confirmed that for this man to continue living in his own community where he has been cared for the past 15 years, he needs a home care package. It has approved such a package, but, lo and behold, the patient has been told the necessary funding is not available for the package to commence.

5 o’clock

If he wants to enter into a nursing home and apply under the fair deal scheme, he will be possibly looked upon favourably. That is ludicrous. There is no joined-up thinking. Each department is working in silos where every department is looking at its own individual budget with no thought of the consequences on other budgets. It makes sense to keep people in their home for as long as possible. It makes social sense, it makes moral sense and, if one wants to look at it in brass tacks, it makes economic sense to provide the certain supports to keep people in their own home rather than putting them into institutions. We must look at how the various elements within the department are working and how each section is utterly focused on its own budget and makes decisions on its own budget with no interaction with the various other sections within the HSE. That is something that needs to be looked at by the committee.

I take this opportunity to focus on the area of mental health. I listened to the Minister, Deputy Harris, this morning on the issue of the €35 million in funding transferred to other services. It annoys me when people talk about time-saving measures. The reason those people are not employed today is because somebody did not advertise in time. They talk about the period of time it takes to advertise and go through the recruitment and that as a result, they will not be hired by the end of the year. If they knew the funding would be there, why were the advertisements not issued in time, why did the process not start in time and why are the staff not recruited? There was a conscious decision taken somewhere - it might not have been in the Department and it may not be the Minister's fault - that they would not start this process so that they would be able to peel off a certain amount of this funding and put it into another section within the HSE. That is wrong. From what I understood from listening to "Morning Ireland" today, the Minister stated that the decision was not set in stone and is under review. I hope it is under review and I hope the Minister and the Minister of States use their positions of authority to ensure it is stopped and that, even if those necessary professionals cannot be employed by the end of the year, the money is spent where it should be, on the provision of mental health services.

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