Dáil debates

Tuesday, 15 October 2019

Health and Childcare Support (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Second Stage

 

8:10 pm

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am making the point that in a war situation the Government or the Administration would be charged, because sleep deprivation is part and parcel of every struggle and war that ever went on. All kinds of things are done to keep people awake. People are lying beside vending machines in hospitals and traffic is passing by. People are all over the place and there is no room to pass by. The hospital in Tipperary is old. CUH and hospitals in Dublin were built a reasonably short time ago, in the past 40 or 50 years. They have wide corridors, unlike the old type of corridors in the hospital in Tipperary where if a person is attending to someone on a trolley, nobody can pass with another trolley or anything else.

As we know, the CTA enables Irish and British citizens to access a range of similar rights on a reciprocal basis, including access to healthcare and education in the other country. It is vital that we do everything we can to sustain that arrangement. I will not oppose the Bill for that reason. As I said, I have major issues. Irish and British citizens can access a range of similar rights. There are issues in the National Health Service, NHS, in Great Britain, but nothing would surpass what we have in terms of the sheer mismanagement and bungling. Front-line staff in all hospitals, including those in regional hospitals, work tirelessly and painstakingly but they cannot cope. They are leaving because of stress. When people in Tipperary have a psychotic episode they have to go into the mad accident and emergency department - I use the term "mad" because of the lack of organisation and the chronic waiting times - and wait up to 20 hours to be seen. We have begged and pleaded with the powers that be to provide a room for people who might be seen in triage. People can be sent to Kilkenny because we no longer have a mental health facility in Tipperary. Those living in north Tipperary have to go to Ennis. We are pleading with the Minister to deal with this issue.

I support the Bill and will co-operate with its passage.

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