Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The recent announcement by the CEO of the HSE will have an immediate and very serious repercussions on public health services. Up to 7,000 front-line posts will be withdrawn from an already overstretched workforce, one facing the real possibility of not being able to provide necessary and vital care to communities across the entire country, including County Wexford.

It was obvious from budget 2024 that the health budget was way off the mark. The fallout from this on the Minister's Department and the Cabinet decision to underfund the health service in budget 2024. Sinn Féin forewarned the Government that the consequences of this undertaking would cause to vital services and patients alike. The list of services that will be affected by the decision is too great to name them all but I will mention a few.

There will be no educational psychologists for CAMHS where there are approximately 120 posts unfilled, even though the waiting list has doubled. What about elderly people who are in dire need of some support services? We already have 5,000 people on waiting lists, including more than 510 individuals from Wexford who are waiting for home care supports. Another 250,000 people are on waiting lists for diagnostic services. What about the hundreds of patients on trolleys? There were 562 today, plus the tens of thousands on waiting lists because there is a shortage of experienced nurses and healthcare assistants. Yet, the Minister is going ahead with an embargo on recruitment and retention.

His announcement of an extra €1 billion from the Cabinet this morning is very welcome and it may help this year but what about 2024? Will there be an embargo in place in 2024? The Government has made many promises that it is going to fix the health service yet how can he explain placing an embargo on 70,000 front-line posts that would help.

As a Wexford TD, it saddens me to see so many of our young health professionals from the county and beyond, forced to leave our shores for Australia, New Zealand, Canada, or Britain to find employment. I am sure their families felt heartbroken and let down as the said goodbye to them. We need to bring our highly trained health service staff back home to help deliver the health services the people of Wexford and lreland need and deserve. We ask that the embargo would be lifted and a restoration of the jobs that were promised in good faith.

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