Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Healthcare workers are the backbone of our health system. When we talk about the severe and persistent issue due to Government failure without within our health system we primarily think about the impact on patients. However, we should also consider the intense pressure and stress levels involved in working in such a broken system. This is what our healthcare staff contend with on a daily basis to keep our health system going. This emergency is experienced across all regions of the country. This week alone, there were 22 patients on trolleys in Wexford General Hospital. Less than two months ago, consultants in emergency medicine at Wexford General Hospital stated that the emergency department is under ferocious pressure and is currently seeing between 160 and 180 patients per day. The new 96-bed ward that had been promised by the Government for the hospital must be delivered on time. However, the problem will be with retaining and recruiting the staff to operate these beds. This must be integrated into this planned extension and must be fully guaranteed by the Government. Our health service would not function without the hard work and commitment of our trainee nurses. In a fully staffed, well-functioning national health service, the only pressure that trainee nurses should be under is worrying about securing their degree. Despite the best efforts of teaching hospitals and staff, student nurses are coming under more and more pressure from heavy workloads and the enormous rising rents and accommodation, not to mention the cost of living. This is not right. After exhausting, sometimes double shifts, healthcare staff exit the hospital door and walk straight into a crisis in housing and the cost of living. People wonder why so many choose to emigrate. Average rents in County Wexford are now €1,211. The pandemic bonus payment, which was supposed to reward all our healthcare staff for working under extreme conditions, still has not been paid out to some. The housing disasters are preventing many healthcare workers from returning home to Ireland and it is contributing to young graduates exiting as soon as they qualify. Those who manage to stay here are barely keeping their heads above water.

It is a sad situation when you hear a Minister of State come into this House and quote my local newspaper that denigrates decent hard working councillors, making references to Mickey Mouse, when they are raising the same serious issues about how the housing crisis affects their constituents. The Government must take decisive, drastic action on these matters, as this motion calls for. We need a national health service that covers the whole of Ireland, all of the island, that values and pays good wages to the people who work in our hospitals and give world-class care to all our citizens.

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