Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion.

I commend Deputy Murphy O'Mahony on it. It reads well, but is shocking. It is an indictment, not only on neurological services in Ireland but the health service in general. Many Members in this Chamber have been vocal about how health apartheid is rampant in the health service. One sees people who must struggle every day for basic health services.

Some of the pointers on the motion are incredible. For example, it refers to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which I raised with the Minister of State on Topical Issues. Ireland signed that 11 years ago and it still has not been ratified. That is a bad start.

It also states that 25,000 Irish people each year struggle to access neurorehabilitation services in Ireland. These services are critical for early intervention, which is key to somebody recovering as quickly as possible.

I would like also draw attention to the provision of home-care services for neurorehabilitation. That is essential and should be provided in tandem as part of somebody's rehabilitation.

I could go on for ever about the lack of services for those with a neurological condition. These conditions range from somebody with epilepsy to somebody recovering from a stroke. There are myriad conditions. We must address those issues, particularly around home care because those who have a condition essentially do not want to be in acute hospitals or nursing homes. Sometimes they want to be at home getting back to their lives they had previously.

One can talk in flowery language about the health service in this country. I do not want to be a prophet of doom - sometimes that is easy here - but there is something fundamentally wrong in a society that does not take care of those who find themselves sick not of their making where the health service cannot look after them. It is a terrible indictment, not only of the Dáil but of society.

What it comes down to - I do not know whether the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, will agree but there is probably a consensus in this place - is that once there is a two-tier health system, one will always have inequality in it. If one had a one-tier health service, regardless of whether one was a millionaire or somebody on social welfare through no fault of their own, one would at least have greater equality when it comes to the health service and the services that it provides.

A two-tier health system leads to exactly what is stated in the motion. One has all these grave inequalities when it comes to people accessing services. Sometimes it is embarrassing to state that one is from Ireland when one sees some of the contents of the motion. It is an embarrassment and yet this is a wealthy country. If one has money in one's pocket or one is wealthy, one can get services but if one is poor or working class, one is at the bottom. That is fundamentally wrong in any society.

This is a good motion. It throws up a good debate about the lack of neurological services for those who really need them who, as I stated previously, have conditions not of their making - the conditions have probably chosen them. When they need that help, society should provide them with their needs and if we do not provide it, it is a terrible indictment, not only of this place but of society as a whole.

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