Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Housing and health have become intertwined into one big mess and that has happened on Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s watch. Government policies in health and housing over the past decade have brought us to a crisis. We are now facing a brain drain from the health service like we have never seen before. A perpetual crisis in the health service under this Government is forcing nurses and midwives to emigrate. A staggering 65% of nursing graduates are considering emigrating. A third of them have already been approached by overseas agencies for recruitment abroad. When I speak with staff who are working in the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, and St. Vincent’s Hospital, Fairview, in my constituency in Dublin Bay South, the loss of healthcare staff to emigration is the number one concern they raise with me. Nurses and midwives working in these hospitals should be able to live relatively close by. It is just not right that they are completely priced out of the housing market. It is not right that these essential workers are forced to commute for hours to reach work each day. The rents and prices around St. Vincent's Hospital, Fairview, and the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, give staff no hope. The high-tech boom has contributed to the forcing of staff and working families out of their communities. These essential workers do incredible work every day caring for patients but year after year the Government fails to look after them. We need to see a step change in how the Government views nurses and midwives. We all remember the last Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and his comments around financial penalties against striking nurses and for nurses and midwives who are merely seeking better conditions.

Sinn Féin has a plan to fix the housing emergency. Sinn Féin also has a plan to fix the health emergency and we need a change of Government for that to happen. I agree with my colleague, Deputy Paul Donnelly that we must ensure the Geoffrey Shannon report on the St. John Ambulance is published as a matter of urgency. St. John Ambulance should not be allowed to sit on this particular report. Sex abuse survivors should not be silenced.

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