Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am afraid the response confirms all our fears. It is extraordinary. The HSE recruited for positions in 2018. The reason it recruited was because of extraordinary waiting lists but it did not plan for the resources of those extra positions during the 2019 budget. What kind of dummies are doing the accounts here? That is basic accounting. When one expands a service, one resources it to extend and provide the service. One does not provide the service for four months, provide no funding for it in the following years, and cut back the service that has been given to patients who are fed up of being on waiting lists and whose conditions are worsening because they are waiting lists.

I understand this is the only CHO region where this action is being taken. Are we now destined, in Mayo, Galway and Roscommon, to have longer waiting lists, further delays in treatment and unfilled positions because basic budget skills must not be available within the Department of Health and the HSE?

It is not good enough. The Minister of State is merely reading out a reply that has been provided for her. As a constituency Deputy, she will be aware the line, "as far as possible, the CHO has confirmed that it will continue to respond to the most pressing patient and service user needs", that does not mean anything. That means there will be no additional home help hours, there will be no extra occupational therapy, OT, services and no emergency orthodontic services, the lists will get longer and people's frustration will increase.

The Minister keeps trumpeting the fact that the Government is spending record levels of money on health and the highest in the OECD - spin, spin, spin. At the end of the day, people are suffering because somebody does not do their job right in accounts.

The Minister of State's response is confirmation of what I have been told. At this stage, many people are despairing, in particular, parents of children who are on those waiting lists.

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