Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am also glad to be able to support this motion this evening. It is the third time, I think, a motion like this has been before the Dáil recently, as Sinn Féin Deputies indicated when presenting the motion. They indicated that this motion has been moved because of the many High Court challenges.

What is going on in the country that the HSE, including Mr. Paul Reid and others in the top management under the Minister's watch, can do as they like without being accountable to anybody? The Minister can fly out to Dubai or Abu Dhabi or wherever he was; it could be Timbuktu and I hope he might stay there. It is all these people are fit for. They are not accountable to anybody and they do not respect the people. They do not respect children, na daoine óga. Before Covid-19 I knew of people waiting two years for a service and now they are waiting four or five years.

Have the people responsible for this no shame? We are meant to cherish people equally - mol an óige and tiocfaidh sí. Our children are being denied their rights and people are being forced to go to the courts, where the State has seen loss after loss. It does not cost the Department or the HSE anything but it costs the taxpayer to fight each of those cases. Nobody seems to be accountable.

I heard the Taoiseach comment when he was in America that if there is to be an inquiry into the appalling way Covid-19 was handled, he does not expect Mr. Reid or Dr. Holohan to be brought before it. Why would these people not hide and scurry and blackguard people when they have got away with the likes of this for decades? There is no accountability and they are on shocking money.

Young people need speech and language therapy and assessments. I meet dozens of people every week who say they are looking for jobs as speech and language therapists but cannot get them. What is going on? It is a con job and the people know it. The Government has no shame and its members will try to run and hide. They have no place to hide.

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