Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Tóibín.

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion and thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing it forward. I pay my respects to the 2,134 people who have lost their lives through Covid and acknowledge the suffering that all their families have endured this year. The 76,766 people who have contracted Covid have also suffered a great deal.

We have to acknowledge what people have done to try to contain this virus and pandemic. It has been an enormous sacrifice, with many aspects of life, rural and urban, greatly affected by it. Our mental health services have been disrupted no end. I ask the Minister to take on board that mental health services urgently need to be brought back to normal, as do disability services, which, through nobody's fault, have not been given proper consideration throughout this pandemic. I acknowledge, however, that efforts are being made to reinstate these services.

As for the health service, I get many calls from people on waiting lists. I received a reply from the HSE the other day stating that the audiology service in Galway has a waiting time of 80 weeks for appointments. That is totally unacceptable and we need to do something about it as a matter of urgency.

Our schools - national and secondary - have been a beacon of light. School secretaries have made enormous efforts and their call for equal pay needs to be properly addressed as a matter of urgency.

In Claremorris, the principal of a school has been left out to dry. The Minister for Health and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, might talk to the Minister for Education to see whether they can help the man in question, rather than leaving him out to dry.

Another issue that arises in my office relates to the cohesion of the message on restrictions and how it is delivered. I ask that the HSE, along with all Departments, have a common message that is more readily available for people when they seek answers to questions. While I commend all the work carried out by the staff of the Department of Social Protection, one issue needs examination, namely, that of people over the age of 66 who have been left with the PUP.

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