Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The situation with accident and emergency care in Limerick, as the Minister knows, has gone beyond the point where we just condemn it and express outrage. We now need action. People in Limerick and the mid-west region are aghast and afraid to go to that department. It saddens me to have people describe that department as a cattle mart and the last place in the world to which they want to go. People should have confidence in that accident and emergency department. I know the Minister is due to visit shortly and he really needs to focus, through his office and Department, in addressing that issue.

On primary care, the Minister has concluded a deal with the GPs and that deal has been accepted. We need to continue to energise, recruit and qualify GPs, however, because that is a critical pipeline. Within five years, half of County Limerick will not have a GP service available.

The way in which primary care centres are structured in relation to the HSE in terms of placing the risk in developing them onto both developers and general practitioners is counterproductive and is simply not working.

In the few seconds remaining, I will refer to the embargo. I received an email from a nurse who works in an accident and emergency department in London. Having been offered a position in Galway, she has been told she cannot take it up because the funding has been held back. To give another example, a constituent of mine who applied for home help hours for her parents, both of whom have a critical need for the service, was told by the local public health nurse that there is an embargo in place. Her parents cannot avail of the service as a result. I also received an email from a nurse who took a career break to go to Australia and has since returned. She has not been allowed a pathway back into her job because of the embargo. The Minister contends that there is no embargo but it is in place.

If we could unwind financial emergency measures in the public interest as they apply to pharmacists and get rid of the pay inequality that applies to some doctors, particularly consultants, it would go a long way towards attracting and retaining staff in front-line health services.

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