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

I am disappointed that there is not a Minister with responsibility for the health portfolio here. It is not acceptable. We should have been notified before the debate. I am not blaming the Minister of State as I do not think he should be in this position, but we should have been told in advance that there would not be a Minister present. It makes a bit of a mockery of the debate really. The Chamber is empty as it is but to have no Minister for the brief or from the Department is a bit demoralising to say the least.

I will soldier on because the issue of the two-tier health system is very important and we have had it for decades. There was a glimpse of what could and should be during the pandemic when we saw something that has not happened for a long time in this country: there was no such thing as a two-tier health system. How could a two-tier health system exist when up against the pandemic? The State took over 19 hospitals at huge expense given the vast amount of money that goes into private healthcare. We saw a glimpse of what could happen. I believe the vast majority of people would agree that we need a one-tier universal health system but we have a two-tier system. Once a system is in place where private healthcare competes against public healthcare and the kind of narrative exists where people tell themselves they will get better care if they have private healthcare, there will be inequalities. Once that system is put in place, there will be the terrible inequalities which happen on a daily basis.

There are many people who have worked all their lives and ideologically they will not buy private health insurance on the basis of solidarity with other working people. They pay taxes yet they are second-tier citizens when it comes to healthcare. I think that system is wrong. I am sure the Minister of State agrees with universal healthcare. Everybody seems to agree with it but does not seem to do anything about it. Sláintecare, which is not perfect by any means, tries to address some of the inequalities but even it has its shortcomings. Around the world, including in Europe, countries that have universal healthcare have better outcomes for everybody whether you are social welfare or are a millionaire. It has been proven that health outcomes, both mental and physical, and the health of the country, are better. When there is a system in which 50% of citizens rely on private health insurance, then you are going to have a system of inequality and of hierarchy. We do not have confidence in our public health service. I worked in the public health service. Once you are in it, it is brilliant. The people who work there, across a whole range of jobs, are absolutely incredible. Once you get into the system it is really good and everybody will say that. That is a good thing but there should not be vast resources going towards private healthcare. We need to get away from the model of a two-tier system. I am probably repeating myself with this mantra.

Where will this all end? Sláintecare is trying to address some of the main inequalities. I am not so sure about that as a model. It has its shortcomings to say the least but this and successive Governments still promote the idea of private healthcare and stealth private healthcare. Once that exists in society, there will be inequalities. It exists in education and in the economic system and it is compounded by successive Governments which allowed it to happen. Once it is allowed to happen, there will be a "them" and "us". In that system, people will suffer and die and people will go without.

It is pretty heartwrenching to see somebody who has worked all his or her life, has paid all the taxes and did everything right being left on a trolley for three days. I swear to God, if it happened in any other country, there would have been a revolution. There would be a revolution because it is just not acceptable. People pay all those taxes and in their time of need they are told they have to wait in a corridor for three days. It is absolutely not acceptable. That is why ideologically People Before Profit is against a two-tier health system. We need universal healthcare. The NHS is not perfect by any means but it is revered in Britain, even more so than the royal family, because it does one thing: it is a national health system. From cradle to grave, generally it will look after you. There are obviously progressive elements in British society, but obviously the Tory party has been there for a long time and is not a beacon of progress and socialism but the NHS is a great model. It is a model we should try to copy because once you have a system that is based on equality, it will be a better system for everybody regardless of what you earn.

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