Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Deputies who proposed this motion. We have seen what happened in Monaghan, Ennis and Nenagh. Ministers act as if they are bystanders at a wake. All they are missing is the snuff. They might make the caointe cáin. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, allowed a wonderful hospital in Carrick-on-Suir to be closed in the middle of Covid - it was used for Covid - and denied the people of her own area, but she will have to deal with them at the ballot box. I do not know what to say to the Minister. I always said that the previous Minister, Deputy Harris, would go down in history as the worst Minister for Health ever, but Deputy Stephen Donnelly is surpassing him by the hour. He is inept.

The HSE is out of control. Former taoisigh, Mr. Bertie Ahern and Mr. Brian Cowen, told me that they were going to disband the HSE. No one in the Government has the gumption to do it. The HSE is out of control. The Government might as well be rubbing Vaseline to you know where on a sow. The HSE does not care about or respect the Government. It does not respect the patients or elected representatives. Community nurses, who do a fabulous job in my area, are being moved around for the second time in three years out of fear that they might get to know the people or start feeling empathy towards them. It is blackguarding of good, honest workers. Then there are the people in the layers of bureaucracy who are missing in action, MIA. We can see what is happening in Limerick. When Nenagh, St. John's and Ennis hospitals are closed, all of the people will be pushed into Limerick. It will be catastrophic.

I spoke to Mr. Jonathan Irwin today - a campaigner for sick children, today is his 81st birthday and I wish him well - to see what was happening with the children's hospital. Tá sé imithe. It cannot be seen above ground. It will cost more than €2 billion now, but those opposite will rub their hands in glee and get their pensions, and to hell with the people. I remind them that, under the Constitution, they are elected to represent the people, not conglomerates.

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