Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

For our health service to work, the professionals who work in it should be able to live in a decent home and make a decent living out of decent wages. Right now, that is not happening, as swathes of our most talented and committed healthcare workers are being forced to emigrate because they know they cannot afford to buy or even rent a decent home. The rents they are paying for shared shoeboxes are crippling them. No matter how hard they work, the wages they are earning are just not enough to have a comfortable life in Ireland.

None of them is looking for luxury here. A decent home and a good job with a decent wage that will help make ends meet is, however, a level of comfort healthcare workers should expect in the 21st century. The Government could take action to address this. We saw how fast it moved recently to work for and indulge big bankers. Despite the inextricable link between the crisis in housing and the crisis in healthcare, however, it is choosing not to do so. Waiting lists are heaving because the housing crisis affects the healthcare crisis. They are packed with people like the young person who contacted me out of the blue. She had a series of seizures in 2021. She was sent home from the accident and emergency department and told to see what happens. What happened was more seizures and she ended up back in the accident and emergency department. This time, she was put on epilepsy medication and added to a waiting list to see a neurologist. Now, 21 months later, she still has not seen that neurologist. She has had no change in drugs and no proper diagnosis, which means she cannot drive and her life is completely on hold. This young person, a student teacher as it happens, has her whole life ahead of her but because of the absolute state of our waiting lists, she is stuck and worried that her condition is deteriorating. Going private - if she could afford to do so - is not an option. The private neurologist cannot see her because her own waiting list is so long. We do not have enough neurologists. We do not have enough medical graduates, junior doctors or nurses. They are all leaving because of the disaster that is our housing policy. That problem is going to get worse.

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