Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of health in the context of the Cabinet committee, I raised earlier the unacceptable failures in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, CAMHS. We have continued to see unacceptable conditions in our health service over the winter season, with thousands of people marching across the country at the weekend. There were especially big crowds in Limerick and Navan, which the Labour Party was proud to support. Years of under-resourcing have put lives at risk and a full security audit is now required. The INMO have called for this after the awful fatal assault on an 89 year old man in the Mercy University Hospital, Cork. Our thoughts are with his family. Will the Taoiseach commit to the holding of a security audit of our hospitals? There has not been one since 2016. For years healthcare workers have had to endure attacks and assaults and it is deeply worrying that patients are unsafe.

Finally, I want to ask about the availability of a specific antibody drug called Evusheld. I have been contacted by people affected by chronic lymphocytic leukemia about the need for more supports to protect patients. The antibody drug Evusheld was rejected by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE, due to cost but is available in other EU countries and has saved the lives of many people whose immune systems have not been working well. We know that those who are immunocompromised are particularly worried about the rise in respiratory illnesses over the past month or so.

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