Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

To follow up on Deputy Boyd Barrett's point I give the example of Tallaght Hospital, where consultant Dr. Anthony O'Connor has reported that the hospital is full. It is one of the hospitals that has no free beds between Covid and non-Covid cases. He has highlighted the heroic work done by staff there, including those who have answered the call to come home and help support our health service and society in its hour of need. He has pointed out that many of these staff are in the process of being thrown away. Junior doctors on his team contracted Covid-19, fought it off, returned to work on the front line and he reports that many of them are facing unemployment and perhaps emigration.

These are people who answered the Government's call, who signed up to work in the health service hoping for permanent contracts and who are now being let go and are not able to find a job in our health service. We all stood here and applauded. Is the Minister going to say to them "So long and good luck" and say to them that they helped us out for a few months in our hour of need but now we are going back to our two-tier health service? What is also in the programme for Government is an explicit positive reference to providing choice between public and private. If there was not a problem with the public health service, the private health system would simply go away. Why would someone pay for extra private health care if he or she could get just as good care with public health care? What is contained in the document is a continuation of the two-tier health service and the rationing of access to healthcare which the Minister said he was against in the case of the coronavirus but unfortunately where other healthcare is concerned the programme for Government signs up for it continuing.

I have a very simple question. Are jobs going to be provided for all those people who came home because it certainly is not provided for or mentioned in the programme for Government?

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