Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am frustrated, like Deputy Denis Naughten. We ask lots of questions in question time but we are not getting the answers. As for the briefings, the one yesterday evening was a total waste of time.

When can we expect smear test cancer services and other essential health tests to resume?

Having arranged additional capacity for Covid-19 care in the private hospitals, are the Minister and his Department putting together plans to resume operations in them? There are ideological issues coming up about treating all patients together, but people who pay their insurance and are waiting for treatments need answers.

Mental health services in Tipperary are still non-existent while we wait for the Jigsaw service to be set up. Mental health, disability and early intervention services have all been cancelled and there is no idea of when these essential care services will resume for so many families. Mental health is a huge issue. I heard of a case recently where a suicide, unfortunately, was put down as a Covid-19 death. There is a lot of trick of the loop going on here. Deputy Naughten called it "organic manure". I would call it something that starts with "b" and something else starting with "s", but I do not want to say that in the House. It is just not on.

It is time to stop the spin and give us the answers. We are seeing the love letters being exchanged between Dr. Holohan and senior officials in the HSE. The Minister can smile if he likes but they are not really love letters, as has been exposed today. They are litreacha, not Litreacha um Thoghcháin, going from different Departments to different officials, and showing a jealous kind of questioning of who is who and what is what. We need to put accountability back on the floor of this House. The Ceann Comhairle intervened when Deputy Naughten spoke about workers' test results going to the meat factory owners. I would not be surprised at anything that has happened in the meat factories, because they own their workers.

I have several questions about testing arrangements for Covid-19. In one case I know of, an 80 year old in Clonmel in my constituency, had to get a 75 year old to take him for testing in Kilkenny in spite of the fact we have a test centre in Clonmel - provided by the GAA club I support, Moyle Rovers, which is of some fame - that is empty and not working. What is going on? Can we have some transparency about the number of tests being done in that GAA club, and in the centre in Nenagh? Where are the answers to the questions we are asking? My office is waiting more than three weeks for replies from the Department and the HSE to our queries about facilities and funding in Tipperary.

What is happening with St. Brigid's Hospital? It is a lovely facility, formerly a district hospital, in which many people from Carrick-on Suir were born and where they lost loved ones, who were waked there before we had funeral parlours. The building has been taken over as a Covid-19 centre but it is empty. The lights are off and it is in total darkness. Beds are being removed to be put into Cashel. The Minister and I visited one day and we saw a pristine, empty hospital. People in Carrick-on-Suir and surrounding areas in west Waterford, south Kilkenny and all over Tipperary funded the three hospice beds that are there and other facilities. We need answers but I cannot get them from the HSE. I cannot get telephone calls returned or emails replied to. Where are the answers?

Unfortunately, the usual issues regarding the HSE, which many other Deputies and I raise on this floor day in and day out, are still there. They may have gone down in the pecking order but they are still there. The cardiac care service in the south east is non-existent. There are still problems with dentistry, orthodontics, speech and language services, and the waiting lists are a mile long in the public system. How long will it be before those services are resumed and will we have chaos again?

Worst of all is what has happened in nursing homes. I will not repeat what I said to the Taoiseach earlier in that regard. Those people were thrown to the wolves and blocked and blackguarded. What happened when a response had to be given? The usual suspects from HIQA were sent in, which had to hire in experts from other areas, for a form-filling and paper-ticking exercise.

The Minister must feel for the people with intellectual disabilities, children with autism, and their parents and families. We have some excellent centres in Tipperary, many of them voluntary and community-run, but now the people they serve have no outlet. There is nobody to look after them. Parents are getting no break from their children and the children are getting no break from their family. Those breaks are badly needed because many of them require 24-7 care in the home. I see many young adults who are pure frustrated by the current situation. Younger children are frustrated, too, but it is easier to control them because they are smaller. I am talking about young men and young women who are big and strong. It is desperate for them that they cannot get access to services, not even the trip on the bus with the other young people who are brought to school by the excellent bus drivers and staff who care for them. That service is badly needed and it must be put back in place in some semblance of a way in order to keep those families sane who are under enormous pressure. I cannot quantify the pressure they are under.

The over 70s have put their shoulders to the wheel but they have been locked up for long enough. They are asking questions, as we all are. We want less of the spin on RTE every evening, on "Six-One" and the "Nine O'Clock News", and more honesty. The last thing people want is to have the Taoiseach saying something on "Six-One" and then his spin machine is outspun - and he has a fair machine - by Dr. Holohan saying something else. That is divisive. The Minister rightly praised, as did every speaker, the front-line staff and all the citizens of the State for what they have done, but they need to be seeing one message, and it has to be an honest, direct and fair message.

See this speech in context