Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be able to speak on this legislation. This Bill seeks to bring some decorum or measure of change and adjustment to what is needed. This whole area needs massive change. We can have all the regulations and Bills like this and all the grandiose titles and amendments, memorandums and everything else, but people want services. The Minister of State knows that. A Teachta Dála living in any constituency knows this about the services having the required healthcare professionals to deliver these services in a professional and timely manner.

In most cases, the services are not timely. In some cases, unfortunately, there are questions about the profession too. We heard An Teachta Tóibín's contribution. This is not the first time I have heard his point and I have discussed it with him. We all have heard of cases where people are languishing on waiting lists for professional therapy and help, from the cradle to the grave, literally. It is most troubling when we see young people trying to get assessments in respect of special and particular educational needs, language needs and all kinds of therapies. Yet they cannot get them. This is where the real problem is. We can have all the legislation, aspirations and flowery words and sentences and acronyms we want, but that is all pointless if we cannot get the services.

Nothing is more frustrating for a family, whether there is one parent or two or a whole family with siblings, than when a child with special and additional needs does not have those needs determined because the family cannot get access to the professional services required. The lives of the children concerned and their families could change if it was possible to get a diagnosis and additional supports. Is mór an trua é sin. We can go on to the areas of autism, dyspraxia, dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, etc. My late brother was a paediatrician, and quite a good one from what I hear from his patients. He had a keen interest, God rest him, in children with learning difficulties and any kind of needs. He travelled the world and gained expertise. I still meet families today, and it is nice, who come up to tell me they miss him so much some 11 and 12 years later. The crucial thing is that the patient, whether young or old, must be at the centre of our healthcare system, but unfortunately that is not the case.

The system has seriously regressed since the dreaded Covid-19. Many people are not back to work in places and there are skeleton services and people working from home or whatever. I am not here to undermine or challenge the staff. Some great people are working in the HSE and other care areas, including in mental health. There are, however, some amount of cracks in the system, and needs, trauma and anguish. We saw people lobbying today, with music and entertainment on the street. I met a special lady, whose name eludes me, who gave us a rendition in the audiovisual room and a bit of a recital. Why are people like her punished and why is the system cruel to them? We must praise their ability rather than remarking on their disability. Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí. Indeed, mol na daoine agus tiocfaidh sí. It is our abilities and what people can do that we must praise, and not our disabilities. There is a major opportunity here for learning and brushing up on what we do, instead of the slippage we have experienced.

I recently met a retired person who used to look after home care hours and applications. She told me she was delighted to be gone because there was no bother getting home care hours and packages now, but there was nobody to fulfil the hours. We have a flight of experts in this area. Home carers are experts in their own right. Many of them do not have degrees as such, but they have degrees in understanding, care, passion and supporting people who are sick. Ní neart go cur le chéile. I refer to carers as well. I always wear a carers' badge, but it is covered up by the mental health badge this evening. We have questions about the mental health budget as well.

I met the people lobbying downstairs as well. In a proper system, these people should not have to lobby but, unfortunately, they have to. Maybe it is the big organisations, the more powerful ones, that can lobby strongest that will get the best outcomes.

Unfortunately, as regards carers and home care packages, the approach is so short-sighted. It is easy to announce all the money. The Taoiseach, when anybody questions him, the Tánaiste and the Minister state there are so much in additional budgets but they are not there. Carers are run ragged and they are tired, with the distance now travelled, the cost of fuel and everything else. I am conscious of the impacts they make and the joy that they bring to people in their homes on home care visits. They keep them out of hospital and accident and emergency departments. A complete overhaul is needed to put more funding into community services. This Bill should be about enabling that but it is not happening.

Recently, a nurse told me that 67% of her class were in Australia. They have done so much learning here and done so much to join the wonderful and noble profession of nursing only to emigrate. The grá is there for some people and they will emigrate anyway because they want to travel.

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