Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Boyd Barrett. We welcome and support this Bill. It is amazing to think that the Brexit referendum, which led to many anomalies, happened six and a half years ago. As a consequence of Brexit, there has been a correction in regard to medical interns studying in Britain or the North of Ireland to come back here. That is a good thing. If we can attract professionals back into the Irish health system, it is a good thing. There is also a downside to this. I am probably preaching to the converted because the Minister of State knows the downside with regard to keeping people in the Irish public health system, which is the most important thing. If graduate doctors, nurses and other allied professionals who are qualified at the highest grade in the world feel compelled to leave the country at the end of that process, we have a big problem. We have to challenge that.

At the moment, there is an enormous number of vacancies. For example, there are vacancies for 900 medical consultants. Such a void has consequences in regard to health care. Other Deputies alluded to the junior doctors who issued an extraordinary statement a number of months ago regarding their conditions. If doctors are saying that their working conditions in certain environments are unsafe, we should be concerned not only in regard to their own well-being but also patients’ well-being. We are talking about life and death in some circumstances. If they say these circumstances are extremely stressful and detrimental to the profession, this is a serious problem. Like many other Deputies, I have said on several occasions that this issue has to be addressed immediately. That is down to retention, recruitment and respect in regard to workers who have graduated and want to play their part, but circumstances go against them.

I would like to refer to a statement that Dr. Fergal Hickey, who is the president of the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine, made on a radio show yesterday. He painted a stark picture of emergency departments this year and beyond. He stated that we need a plan for the whole year, and not just a winter plan, for sudden surges of influenza or Covid-19. The Irish health system is not prepared for any sudden shocks. It seems we were lucky a year and a half ago in regard to Covid-19. If there had been a situation where there was an absolute oversurge in relation to emergency beds and acute beds, the Irish health system would have been in serious trouble. Happily, that did not happen but it is still a possibility.

My final comment relates to overall recruitment, retention and respect. There are a number of reasons people stay in a country or in a job. People are motivated to help their fellow human beings in the health system. That is why they go into healthcare jobs, and stay in them, but there is a huge issue in regard to staff retention. The reasons that people leave the Irish health service have to be addressed. They are passionate about their jobs but they look at the related issues of cost of living and burnout. I have friends who are nurses in the Irish health system. They are motivated but find it difficult to stay in the system, particularly due to the cost of living. It is detrimental to the Irish health system if we cannot keep these people. If we cannot keep them, other health systems get them, to the detriment of Irish society. We cannot afford to lose people like that. We must recruit them, look after them, respect them and retain them.

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