Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Bill is welcome, but it does not go far enough. We have put forward an amendment, which I will discuss later. The Bill represents progress on the current situation so my party will support its final passage, hopefully this evening.

Carers in Irish society are unsung heroes. Spouses, siblings, children, extended family members and, in some cases, friends or neighbours all act in caring roles for those who are close to them and in need of around-the-clock care. They deserve our respect, compassion and support. They perform a most unselfish role, in many cases leaving their careers behind and putting their lives on hold. As a society we too often take carers for granted, particularly our Governments which are obliged to provide the required financial resources and fail to do so time after time, so we must collectively step up to the plate and ensure that the best supports we can provide are in place for both the cared-for person and the carer. To provide carers with free access to GP and surgical services, if required, by way of a GP card is certainly welcome. However, I do not believe this measure goes far enough.

We submitted an amendment to address the deficiency in the Bill. We believe carers should have been given access to the provisions delivered by a full medical card. That, at least, is their due. Our amendment, therefore, called for "drugs, medicines, and medical and surgical appliances" to be provided to carers along with general practitioner medical and surgical services. We were most disappointed that this amendment was ruled out of order both in the Seanad and in the Dáil. This was due to it putting a cost on the Exchequer. Of course it would, but it is a cost we should bear. I have submitted a parliamentary question to determine exactly what the additional cost would be but, unfortunately, this has not yet been answered. I do not believe it would be a huge cost. Perhaps the Minister of State might have the figure to hand. That said, the Minister for Health should have taken this amendment on board. Not to do so is mean-spirited on the part of the Government and I ask the Minister of State to reconsider this additional provision in the short term.

Sinn Féin supports a full transition to universal healthcare for all our citizens. We need an national health service that is free at the point of entry, delivers healthcare from the cradle to the grave, is provided on the basis of need, not means, and is funded by progressive taxation. The Fine Gael Party supported this concept in 2007. It was in its famous, now seen as infamous, five-point plan.

Fine Gael Ministers for Health have since come and gone, including the current Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, and Senator James Reilly. When Minister for Health, the Taoiseach scrapped these plans. The problem with Fine Gael’s plan was that it involved privatising our health system through insurance contributions. It was selling off our health practices to the highest for-profit bidder, leading to higher and higher prices for patients through premiums. This plan was flawed. Sláintecare has recommended a universal single-tier health and social care system where everyone has equitable access to services based on need and not ability to pay. This is the correct approach. My party supports this model of healthcare delivery and has advocated it during my more than two decades as a Member of this House.

What is the status of Sláintecare? There is a fear that civil servants are watering it down, picking out what they believe are the best bits and shelving other parts. We will not accept this. The cross-party committee will not accept it either and the people we represent certainly will not accept it. In planning for universal healthcare, we should be transitioning as many qualifying people as possible to full medical cards. There cannot and should not be any half or bit-part medical cards, no GP-only cards or any other watered down provisions. Had the Minister accepted our amendment, it would have been a serious start on our journey towards universal healthcare.

I again raise thein loco parentisclause, which I have been raising for the past few months. It remains as pressing now as when I first raised it in March. Twenty-four-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week carers, primarily the parents of very sick children, remain seriously inhibited by the enforcement of this clause by the HSE. As stated by Lynn McDonald in a "Prime Time" documentary in March, these parents are virtual prisoners in their own homes. This continues to be the case and it is in no way acceptable.

In the Sinn Féin Private Members' motion on disabilities on 27 March last, taken by the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, we called for in loco parentisto be immediately abolished. The motion in question was supported unanimously but nothing has happened since. I raised the issue again the following day, 28 March, under promised legislation. The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, said he and an official from the Department of Health would meet me to discuss the matter further. This meeting took place on 26 April. In the interim, I raised the issue at the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality with the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath. I have since written again to the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, on 21 June seeking an update only to receive the following most disappointing reply, not from the Minister of State but on his behalf. It states:

Dear Deputy O'Caolain

I wish to acknowledge receipt of your recent correspondence in relation to the above.

You will appreciate that while Minister Daly facilitated your meeting with [a named official from the Department of Health], the issue does not actually come under his remit.

I will, however, forward your letter to [the named Department of Health official] while cc'ing the Minister Harris' office.

The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, has responsibility for disability. The response to which I refer is simply not good enough, particularly for those suffering families that are seeking a resolution to this problem. There are, I have learned, different degrees of application of the clause in terms of enforcement across different CHO areas. We need to seriously examine this with a view to removing the clause entirely. That would be my view as to what should happen. I am, therefore, seeking a detailed reply from the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, as to what will be done to alleviate this most unnecessary further difficulty for parents who, as he knows, are already coping with enormous challenges. That is no exaggeration.

I am happy to record that Sinn Féin supports this Bill. However, we are disappointed that it has not been a more generous provision for those in receipt of carer's benefit and carer's allowance. This particular cohort of people are deserving of full medical cards with all that these would entail and I urge the Minister of State to give serious consideration to this proposal in the shortest timeframe possible.

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