Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like to ask the two Government representatives if either of them heard Marie McMahon from the mid-west hospital action group on "Morning Ireland" saying that people were afraid to go to hospital. I do not know whether that is news to them, but it is not news to me because it is something I, my family, neighbours and friends have lived for quite some time.

A very close elderly relative of mine who is in a nursing home had a fall and an ambulance was called to bring her to Limerick. I stopped it and was told I could not do that, to which I said that I would stop it and would stand in the way, sign whatever I had to sign and go to whatever court I had to go to in order to explain the situation. My relative was very thankful. She was afraid to be brought to hospital. She was very happy in the excellent HSE-run facility she was in. She did not want to go to hospital and I did not want her to go there. She was brought elsewhere and I still stand over that decision.

My wife and I have a young son who is not seriously ill, but requires hospitalisation on occasion. We have decided that if he needs urgent hospitalisation, once we hit Birdhill we will take our chances and will not go to Limerick but rather in the opposite direction. Lives will be lost because people are afraid to go to hospital in Limerick. Lives are being lost due to the fact people do not go to hospital in Limerick because it is unfit for purpose. Today, there are 130 people on trolleys. I hate people who say, "Shame on you", but it is an indictment of this Government.

I raised this issue with the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, month after month, and all he had to say was that it was nothing to do with him and it is not his job to run hospitals. He is right; it is not his job to run hospitals. However, it is his job to resource hospitals within the limits of the resources available in a budget. We have a lot of money, and we need to make sure there is a management team in place which can spend that money. Instead, he turned a blind eye to the situation.

The Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, was a little bit better. In fairness, he could not have been even a little bit worse than the Tánaiste because both call themselves republicans. They are not republicans. If they believed in republicanism, they would ensure there was some parody of healthcare across the State rather than the massive disparity between the healthcare that is available. People complain about it, but it is so much better along the east coast than it is along the west coast, as my colleague has alluded to. People are celebrating 100 years of the Free State, rather than 100 years of a republic. Sinn Féin will say, of course, that we do not have a republic at all. I hope it will do a better job. I have my doubts sometimes, but it could not do a worse job in health than has been done by this Government.

Somebody somewhere needs to adequately resource the health service. If the problem is not resources, as the Government has said, the problem is the management team. There is a problem and nobody is doing anything about it. It needs to be addressed. When pressed on the matter, the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, said there have been 2,000 new posts in Limerick since the Government took office. That is not the case. After the obfuscation, I asked a question and found out the figure is a third less. He needs to correct the record on that. More important, the problem in Limerick needs to be tackled.

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