Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after “That” and substitute the following: Dáil Éireann declines to give the Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Health) Bill 2019 a second reading in order to further consider the issues raised in the Bill, to allow for the supporting structures already in place around improving access to healthcare due time for implementation, noting the priorities set out in the Sláintecare implementation plan and the need to adequately and appropriately plan the move from the current system of limited eligibility to universal access, having regard to existing and prospective resources, workforce planning and service delivery arrangements;

and noting that the Sláintecare Programme Implementation Office have a dedicated eligibility and entitlement programme of work, that the Bill would be considered as part of this work, that this consideration would include the recommendations of the constitutional convention on economic and social rights, and that they would report on this within 6 months to the Joint Oireachtas Committee.”

Before I address the Bill, I wish to correct certain remarks. Deputy Collins referred to the national children's hospital as a hole in the ground. That is not the case. Some 1,060 children have already received outpatient appointments at the first part of the hospital. Rather than invite me to Northern Ireland, he should accompany me to the site at St. James's Hospital to see what he referred to as a hole in the ground.

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