Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I believe that in the years to come this Government will be known as the “coalition of crisis”. The cost-of-living crisis is hammering people’s ability to live and the housing crisis is threatening hundreds of thousands of families with homelessness and spiking rack rents. Despite all the Taoiseach said, the response of this Government has been stifling inertia in the face of these crises. Going by the rate of action of this Government, the only thing that will remain warm this winter is its own hands because it has been sitting on them all of this time. Such is the degree of the cluster of crises in our country that the massive health crisis we face is being eclipsed. However, it is still a life and death issue that is looming large in millions of people’s lives. Some 1.3 million people are on hospital waiting lists at this moment in time. According to the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, mental health services are in crisis due to the lack of investment and soaring demand. The GP system, which was one of the few remaining functioning elements of the health service, is now broken. People are waiting up to two weeks to get an appointment. Hundreds of GPs are emigrating and moving to Australia every year. Accident and emergency departments are dealing with record waiting times. People are waiting 24 hours in Tallaght. University Hospital Limerick is like a warzone. Over the summer, every hospital in the Meath area at some stage advised patients not to come near them because of the pressure they were under. It is now stated that 360 people a year die in the State due to delays in accident and emergency departments. A figure equivalent to twice the number of elected Deputies in this State are dying every year due to dysfunction and waiting times in accident and emergency departments around the country. In the middle of all of this and just before we face a new wave of Covid and flu, the HSE has decided to close key capacity in the accident and emergency department in Meath. So removed is the HSE that 23 consultants in Drogheda hospital had to write a letter to the Minister for Health stating that if this action was to proceed, it would present a threat to people’s health.

The decision was paused by the Minister. We welcome that. The CEO of the HSE, Paul Reid, then resigned and a so-called review was started. However, the Minister for Health said the review of the closure of Navan accident and emergency department would have the closure built into it. The HSE would simply proceed with the original decision.

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