Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In 2006, hospital overcrowding was declared a national crisis. Declarations were made by the then Fianna Fáil-led Government. Each Fianna Fáil- and Fine Gael-led Government since then swore that this would be resolved. Despite that declaration, and all the statements on resolving hospital overcrowding from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael health Ministers, and Fianna Fáil-led Governments, 17 years on we are looking at what could be considered a bad, repetitive joke, if it was not so serious. It is like Groundhog Day. It is winter. There is overcrowding in our hospitals. The Government continuously ignores warnings and pleas from front-line health professionals who are worked to the bone, stressed to the hilt and whose morale is on the floor. In December alone, nearly 12,000 patients were admitted to hospital without a bed. We have had 17 years of Fianna Fáil- and Fine Gael-led Governments.

At the start of December, 11 ambulances were parked outside my local hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. The patients could not be taken out of the ambulances. They had to sit inside them as the ambulances could not go anywhere because there were no beds or trolleys. It is 2023 in a First World country. It is nothing short of outrageous. That overcrowding will get much worse if the Government continues to ignore the health professionals in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, and moves all the acute emergency cases from Our Lady's Hospital in Navan to Drogheda. Again, it is as if the Government is not listening. I genuinely believe, and I am not being political, that the Minister is afraid to take on the HSE.

He is afraid to take it to task. Other Members here tonight have thanked the front-line staff. I will thank the front-line staff in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and right across the State for the Trojan work they do in spite of their desperate working conditions and the fact that the delivery of every single type of public health service and support is crumbling under the Minister's watch. There is a shortage of GPs, there are no dentists for medical card patients and hospital appointment waiting lists are out of control. There is also a shortage of home care supports, a lack of funding for housing adaptations for elderly people who are being discharged and a dire lack of mental health service provision and supports. There are no beds and no trolleys. The list goes on and on after 17 years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Sinn Féin will deliver the public health service that the people need and deserve.

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