Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for facilitating this excellent debate. More than 907,000 people are currently on a public hospital waiting list. The situation is so severe that hospital consultants are constantly warning that these treatment delays in care could put thousands of patients at risk of dying. Earlier this year, it emerged that a staggering 236,000 people are on separate waiting lists for scans and diagnostics. In overall terms this suggests that as many as 1.2 million people or almost one in every four people are currently awaiting hospital treatment. This is frightening and beyond belief.

I also highlight what is happening in the constituency I represent. I do not know about the rest of the country but I know a share about Kerry. We all know the best model of care is to have those who can do so stay at home. That is the best place to be if your body is good enough. However, people need help and assistance. That is why we have home help hours. In Kerry people are being allocated home help hours of one hour a day or half an hour or three quarters of an hour in the morning or the evening but there is nobody to provide it. I am not blaming the Ministers of State or anyone else for that. I mean no disrespect to anyone coming to this country but there are an awful lot of people coming to Ireland every day. Surely be to God, some of them could work in this sector. Surely some of them would be able to take care of older people. Would they not be delighted with the money? Would it not give them a purpose and a place to go to work? There is nothing wrong with work.

I thank the people in Kerry who work in our district hospitals and larger hospitals. I thank the staff and management from the bottom of my heart for the work they do every day on behalf of the good people in County Kerry.

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