Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for lending me the time to speak on this very important issue. It is arguably the most pressing issue facing my constituents in Clare, tied with the ever-growing housing crisis. I have been on the record of this House many times in support of the reinstatement of the accident and emergency department at Ennis hospital. I would like to take the opportunity to reaffirm my unequivocal support once again for the full reinstatement of the vital accident and emergency department at Ennis. There is not one member of the Government or in this wider House who would deny that reconfiguration failed. It was not backed up with the necessary or promised resources and funding. I got the Minister for Health and the Taoiseach to admit it here in the House in just the last few months. As far as that is concerned, we are all on the same page. What we are not on the same page about is what must happen now. In the 13 years since the vital service was ripped out of my county, it is impossible to ascertain how many people have needlessly died. For anyone who is not aware, there are 68 people on trolleys in UHL this morning. While 68 people abandoned on trolleys should never be acceptable, we would actually consider it to be a good day because instead of lying abandoned for two to three days, patients might possibly only be waiting 18 hours. This is Ireland, the second richest country in Europe, in 2023. It feels like a fever dream. In UHL, nurses in the ICU and in the high-dependency unit have been forced to initiate a work-to-rule because they are being paid significantly less than agency staff doing the exact same job. Every single ICU care practice guideline is being flouted there every day as a result of the chronic understaffing. This recruitment and retention crisis is not an alien entity. It is a result of Government policy. It is entirely of their own creation. We have heard that nurses are retiring early because of the pressures they are facing in UHL. That is in order to protect their mental health because UHL is the infamous war zone and morale is on the floor. However, they have said that they will work in Ennis. These nurses, our heroes in our time of need, are working with a major deficit in the mid-west region and are clearly adding to the ever-growing argument for the need for a model 3 hospital in Ennis. I support the spirit of the motion and what it is trying to do but we need to go a little bit further with a long-term goal. We need to extend the local injuries unit and medical assessment unit hours to full-time and the reinstatement of the emergency department is the inevitable result. My constituents and the people of Limerick and north Tipperary seem to be viewed as lesser by this Government, which seems to think those people do not deserve the same quality of care as everyone else in Ireland. This is the policy of the Minister of State, the Government and the HSE. Enough is enough.

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