Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Given that the Government Front Bench looks like a Christmas reunion of health Ministers, I am going to focus on that topic. Various people have held the position of Minister for Health and there have been various CEOs of the HSE. When the HSE was established and CEOs were drafted in, there were many promises that it would make a big difference. More recent appointees have been on a huge salary scale. There was a promise that such a structure would bring a new order to our health service. The current Secretary General of the Department of Health has a special pay arrangement to bring his expertise to the matter. Notwithstanding all of that, our health system seems to be in a permanent state of crisis. We have learned that some people have waited 116 hours for a trolley. Others have waited for three hours and 15 minutes for triage, when that should be carried out within 15 minutes. Eighty people are on trolleys today in University Hospital Limerick, UHL. On the same day last year, there were also 80 people on trolleys in that facility. This year, we have been told that respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, is the issue. Last year, it was Covid-19. This year, there are only 15 people in intensive care units across the country because of Covid-19. Last year, we were told that the health service was facing existential collapse because of the threat posed by Covid. There were 105 people in intensive care units because of Covid last year. This year, the problem is RSV.

Essentially, the problem seems to be that people are getting sick. If people stopped getting sick, our health service would work perfectly. People pay taxes in the hope that when they become sick or need care, they will receive it. Our tax burden in Ireland is not very high by international standards but nor is it very low by international standards. Our health spend in Ireland is pretty average by OECD standards. However, I do not think that anybody in this Chamber or in the community thinks that our health system is adequate in return for that tax spend. When is our health system going to move beyond crisis into something that provides the service for which people pay their taxes? When is there going to be a value for money audit across the HSE and our health system? Why is it going to move beyond crisis and towards something that resembles a First World healthcare system for which people pay First World taxes?

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