Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No offence was intended to anybody. I am sorry the Minister, Deputy Harris, is not present but I will take the Minister of State's good self. I am happy to have him. I raise the issue of parking throughout the country. The Irish Cancer Society and other representative organisations, including those representing persons with disabilities in which the Minister of State has a personal interest, have been lobbying for reduced or waived parking charges at hospitals, in particular for outpatient appointments. We are speaking here about people who are at a very vulnerable stage in their lives as they fight serious illness, in particular cancer. The Irish Cancer Society has been mounting a campaign for almost two years to have some uniformity nationally in our hospital network where cancer treatment is provided in order that patients do not have the added worry of parking charges. The additional cost of suffering from cancer has been found by the society to be anywhere between €862 and €1,200 per month. Parking charges for regular outpatient appointments certainly contribute to that.

I am sure this has been the subject of many parliamentary questions, and certainly questions in all the local authority areas throughout the country. In Sligo last week, my colleague, Councillor Tom MacSharry, tabled a motion on this topic calling for free parking throughout the hospital network for cancer patients.

It has been reported that the annual income from car parking charges in the hospital network is €13 million. People are not going to hospital for a day out and they are not going to meet somebody for coffee. They are going there because they are under the weather. They may have a serious illness, such as cancer, and are going in for outpatient treatment. There may be less serious conditions whereby, equally, people are going for treatment. All of these people, or, in the case of children, their families, have contributed in taxation through the years to the annual HSE budget, which amounts to €14.5 billion this year. The budget increase on last year is €608 million. If one just took 2% of that 608 million, one would have the €13 million in car parking charges.

Where people visit hospitals on a one-off basis, for example, to visit somebody who is having a baby, it is reasonable that there would be charges. However, anybody who is seriously ill, not only people with cancer but also those with a wide range of life-limiting conditions and long-term illnesses that require regular visits and regular treatment, should be provided with parking discs. While certain hospitals - Tullamore, St. Luke's, Letterkenny, Mayo, Portiuncula, University Hospital Limerick, Kilkenny, Wexford, Kerry and Connolly - have free parking, others, including Sligo University Hospital in my constituency, do not have any arrangements. It is simply untenable that, for example, Connolly Hospital here in Dublin does not apply parking charges in respect of cancer patients whereas just a few miles down the road at the Mater Hospital, people are expected to pay €15. In the overall scheme of a budget that is closer to €15 billion than to any other number, is €13 million, or perhaps half that amount, all that necessary when one considers the level of compassion we ought to be showing to patients with long-term illnesses such as cancer, those with disabilities and others?

It has been announced that the HSE has been asked to review the position in order that we can come up with uniform guidelines nationally. Can the Minister of State provide a timeframe for that? When will it happen? Has it been kicked out by the HSE to one of those big firms between the two canals here in Dublin that will get a couple of hundred grand to do it? Can the Minister of State outline the position?

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