Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too am discussing the savage cuts implemented under FEMPI legislation. I find myself in the unusual position of agreeing with most, if not all, of the elements of the motion on FEMPI that has been put down by Solidarity-People Before Profit. That is unusual as Deputies Bríd Smith and Gino Kenny would agree. I agree with them that the justification for the introduction of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 was the economic crisis and financial emergency which beset the country and that by the Government's own pronouncement, the financial emergency has passed.

The Minister spoke during the last election about recovery but he forgot that it did not travel out beyond the Red Cow roundabout. The Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts 2009 to 2015 have been used to cut public sector workers' pay and pensions, as well as those of general practitioners, GPs, among others. The emergency legislation that curtails the rights of workers to free collective bargaining can no longer be justified. The continued use of emergency legislation in the absence of an actual emergency is an abuse of Government power. Anybody would know that. I had children here today from first and second class who knew that. It is wrong.

One example of the way that FEMPI has lead to serious consequences in terms of the health infrastructure is the cuts that were imposed on general practitioners. The Minister might think that myself and Deputy Harty prepared our speeches together. We did not even discuss it. The National Association of General Practitioners, NAGP, has called on the Government to urgently reverse financial emergency measures in the public interest, namely, FEMPI fee cuts in general practice. The GP representative body said that general practice has suffered disproportional funding cuts of up to 38% under FEMPI. My colleague, Deputy Harty, referred to this as well. The NAGP has also said that FEMPI is a key factor in the high rate of emigration among GPs as the profession is now not viable in Ireland. We see that every day in rural Ireland. We cannot get doctors or GPs to apply for practices. Does the Government not care about the impact of this or about the health of our people? The NAGP chief executive, Mr. Chris Goodey, has stated that FEMPI is driving young GPs abroad in search of better terms and conditions. We invest a great deal in training our young GPs and nurses but newly-qualified doctors have demonstrated a lack of faith in the viability of general practice. For the first time, ten GP training places have remained unfilled in 2017.

It is time to sit up and smell the coffee and for some fairness. We have heard the new Taoiseach - who has proven that he is the same as the last Taoiseach despite only having been in the job for two weeks - say that he wanted to represent all people in Ireland. He is not representing the front-line service workers in our hospitals. The trolley crisis worsens in the middle of summer. The last Taoiseach made many commitments and even had a poster on a billboard saying he was going to get rid of the trolley crisis. We cannot get the doctors and the doctors we have are being mistreated. We cannot get the nurses but we have no problem getting managers. There is no problem in getting them. There is a plethora of them. There were 9% more managers in the HSE in 2016 compared with 2015. We need to be fair and respectful of these people who put their shoulder to the wheel and took the cuts.

We all supported the cuts because they were needed, yet we have been talking about recovery for years. If it is a recovery, why is this emergency legislation still in place? I compliment Deputy Boyd Barrett, who in fairness has been fighting for this debate in the Business Committee for the past two months. The Minister did not want to have it but here we are. Is he listening? Ba chóir don Aire a bhéal a dhúnadh agus éisteacht. I hope the Minister is listening because he has not listened to the people or the message he was given after the last general election and he is not listening now. This is wrong and he can make it right. The emergency is well over and we need to be respectful of the people. These are working people who want to work, including GPs, front-line service staff and many others. People cannot live like this. It is foolishness.

As for taking 38% out of a GP's practice, it is obvious that no member of the Government ever ran a business because that provides the income they use to pay all their staff. General practitioners are business people. They are small businesses in every town that pay rates, taxes, heat, light, staff, other doctors and nurses. They are huge employers who operate in my own home town and they are being mistreated by the Government. In turn, there are people who cannot access GPs at all and cannot get transport services to the GPs in the towns. Does the Minister want people to lie down in the ditches and die like they did in the Famine? The way the people are being treated is outrageous. Members in this House are being treated poorly as well, with the attempts to vote this legislation through time after time each year. It is wrong and it can never be made right.

FEMPI should be wiped away. The Minister tells us about growth rates of 6% or 12% and that we are the fastest-growing economy in Europe. He is telling lies and porkies. He contradicted himself here this evening because if we have that kind of growth, why do we need financial emergency legislation? If we have a real emergency, the Government will not get co-operation from this House to pass legislation because it is pulling the wool over people's eyes here. It is codswallop to tell us we need this legislation when we do not. The Minister is now the Minister for Finance as well as being the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Being in charge of both Departments amounts to smoke and mirrors. We have a budget coming with less and less so called fiscal space. The Minister should be fair, honest and respectful of the Opposition Members here who wants this to be changed. They want the Minister to state the emergency is over and an attempt must be made to loosen the purse strings. If the Minister was ever in business, he would understand that constant cuts are not going to succeed. He has to stimulate the economy and allow the people who have been affected by all of this to be able to spend again, to be able to have a holiday, to pay their mortgages and be able to put food on the table and perhaps eat out occasionally and to go out and buy some of the commodities that they are not buying now or have not been buying since the recession, as well as to support all the local shopkeepers who all pay VAT, other taxes and rates. They must be able to thrive, or rather to survive again. It is not rocket science. This is not genius talk. If the Cabinet had an understanding of how business works, it would understand that. Allow the people to have spending power. Allow them the dignity of having a decent wage without this financial emergency legislation taking a big hole out of it and allow them to have an economy that is going to work and help them to pay their taxes. Revenue income has fallen this year in spite of the vigorous and aggressive policy of Revenue of pursuing self-employed people in particular, that is, those who are the generators of business and jobs. Look at all the money paid to get foreign direct investment.

Stimulate the people. Allow these workers, including GPs, their staff and all the workers who have been suffering here, to be able to have a dignified wage, a fair day's pay for a fair day's work and to go out and stimulate the economy again. They will put their children to education in order that we will have young doctors and nurses trained again who will not all want to go on the aeroplane the minute they finish because of the regressive and penal type of legislation we are persecuting them with in a charade that has lasted three or four years too long. We have put up with what we have had to put up with. We have put our shoulder to the wheel. It is time the Minister, in advance of the budget, started to think about supporting these people again. They are not looking for anything except fair play. Fair play is fine play by me.

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