Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Michael Healy-Rae. Ar an gcéad dul síos, I pay tribute to all the front-line staff and the workers in all areas who did Trojan work. I sympathise with each and every family that lost loved ones. I thank RTÉ for the "RTÉ Investigates" programme last night. It was just shocking. What happened in nursing homes was unforgivable.

I wish the Minister well in his office. We are asked today to increase his budget from €18.3 billion to €20.3 billion with very little explanation or breakdown of the costs. We are going to do it with goodwill, but it is an enormous amount of money. We need to see value for money. Many questions must be asked. As I said previously, things had to be done. I supported the takeover of the private hospitals, but when I saw it costing €115 million per month I was shocked. When I saw that being extended to keep them for June, when there was clearly no need for them, it was just incomprehensible. The cost of Citywest Hotel at €12,000 per bed is four times what the cost is in England. It is costing €21 million in total. It is unbelievable money.

On mental health, I received a reply to a parliamentary question today after months of trying to get information about the costs. St. Michael's in Clonmel, a short-stay mental health facility, was closed down under the so-called A Vision for Change. Despite numerous meetings, suicides and mental health issues, we have failed to get a single bed in south Tipperary. The HSE has accepted there is a deficit of 25. Now we find that €700,000 has been spent on St. Michael's to get it ready for Covid-19, with bathrooms en suite. I salute the building contractors, O'Gorman Construction (Ardfinnan) Limited, and all the builders who worked on it. They did Trojan work. I am not criticising them but I am criticising the fact that we could not get the facility open for mental health beds. I want it to be kept open when this is finished to provide mental health beds. We need mental health services. The Covid-19 crisis has made the need enormous.

On top of that there is the cervical smear programme, BreastCheck and the men's prostate screening. The backlogs are going to be astonishing. We seem to have money. The €2 billion today is just unbelievable.

On daily mass and NPHET, the previous Minister, Deputy Harris, told me in the Dáil last week that he agreed with me that one size does not fit all with regard to churches. Fifty in every church is ridiculous. He said he would bring it up with the Cabinet. It was brought up in the Cabinet, there was a meeting and I understand today that the Minister, Deputy Harris, informed other Deputies that it had been changed to 100, which is a welcome step. However, a telephone call was made from the Taoiseach's office - not the Taoiseach - to the archbishop in Dublin last Friday night to say it was changed back again. Who is pulling strings here or what reasons have they for trying to deny the people? Never did people need spiritual nourishment more than they need it now. We should allow the people to go to prayer. Since I was privileged to be elected to the Dáil 13 years ago I have been listening day in and day out to the naysayers on separating church and State, yet now we want to control the church. Are we going to be communist Russia? That is what I see.

I cannot stand here on this tragic evening with such tragic loss of life due to Covid-19, which we are all so concerned about, without reading out a figure that I received today from the Department of Health. There were 6,666 babies aborted in 2019. My God, we have Covid-19 and with this slaughter in 2019 is it any wonder? Where is the money coming from that? It is to become an industry. It is a shocking indictment of our country. We were told it would be safe, legal and rare. How rare is 6,666? It is an appalling vista in our system. Then we have crocodile tears about people injured and dying due to Covid-19. Let us compare the figures. One death anywhere is one too many. I support life from the cradle to the grave, from the womb to the tomb, and I am shocked by what has happened. It beggars belief.

I have gone over time so I will let Deputy Michael Healy-Rae make his contribution.

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