Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Following the recent Stormont election, as the Taoiseach has said, the approach of both the British Government and the Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, to the protocol has been deeply unhelpful and the people of Northern Ireland will suffer from the lack of a functioning Executive. We support the Taoiseach and all those engaged in trying to ensure that the Executive will be up and running again. We are conscious that there are very serious issues facing communities in Northern Ireland that require a functioning Executive to deal with, notably the waiting lists in hospitals in the North, which have been the subject of a good deal of concern because they are so extensive.

Waiting lists have also been a major problem in our own health service. In that context I have been asked to raise the case of Jeanie May Moylan, an 11-month old baby born in Portlaoise hospital who is in urgent need of medical treatment. Her parents have been waiting ten months for an appointment for their daughter at Crumlin hospital and are on the brink of borrowing to pay for specialist medical care. Her case was reported on by Alison O'Reilly in the Sunday Mirroron 22 May and is just one example of a serious waiting list issue in our own health system. I am conscious, as we all are, that a functioning Executive in Northern Ireland is required in order to ensure that issues around budgeting to deal the extensive waiting lists in the healthcare system there will be dealt with and that the real day-to-day concerns of the people of Northern Ireland around the cost of living, increases in the cost of fuel and food and the sorts of issues facing all of us on this island can be addressed.

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