Dáil debates

Tuesday, 12 July 2022

Confidence in Government: Motion

 

6:45 pm

Photo of Stephen DonnellyStephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to our healthcare workers all over the country. One would be forgiven when listening to the relentless negativity from Sinn Féin for not knowing that our men and women in healthcare around this country will deliver care to tens of thousands of men, women and children today. They will deliver care to millions of our countrymen and countrywomen this year. Sinn Féin did not talk about Covid-19. Its representatives did not say that while the waiting lists in this country are too long, they are between a half and a third of the length they are in Northern Ireland. The Sinn Féin representatives did not say that while we have added five years worth of new hospital beds in two years, the number of hospital beds in Northern Ireland has fallen every year for the past ten years. The Sinn Féin representatives did not mention Covid-19. The truth is that this Government and this nation is regarded as having one of the best responses on earth. Our vaccine levels are some of the highest in the world. Our Covid excess mortality rates are some of the lowest. In fact, our excess mortality rate during this pandemic is ten times lower than that of the UK. There was not a word from the Opposition about any of that.

I salute the women and men who deliver healthcare in this country. We will continue to invest.

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