Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion. We are all feeling a bit of shock at the recruitment embargo in the health service. Rather than going into a state of contraction in respect of recruitment and need, we should be expanding, and anybody would agree with that. The embargo is going to have a detrimental effect on our health services, and those fault lines between private and public, which were especially visible during Covid, will be exacerbated because of the historical inequalities in our health system.

As an example, in Dublin Mid-West, mothers are finding themselves in a ludicrous situation whereby, over recent years, there has not been access to public health nurses, especially in Lucan and Newcastle, both of which are expanding areas in the context of the services they need. Likewise, there are no public health nurses for small children. It rings alarm bells straightaway if a child does not have access to a developmental nurse for their healthcare. That has been going on for the past couple of years and, obviously, the embargo is going to prevent that from improving. That is extremely worrying. There is a huge deficit in the healthcare system, and now it needs a bailout.

It is not in great shape. I come from the point of view of saying we need to look at the positives of our healthcare system. There are a huge number of positives, but there are also a huge number of deficits. They are real; they are not made up by the Opposition, by any means. They are historical, whereby people who need access to healthcare cannot get it because they do not have private health insurance. It is ludicrous that 50% of the population rely on private health insurance. That is not a sustainable model for healthcare, not to mention universal healthcare, which Sláintecare is striving for. It is a good model, but we are a long distance from having a system for providing universal healthcare.

The recruitment embargo is deeply upsetting and troubling and will without doubt have a knock-on effect on professionals both in the health service and those who want to come into it. When they see that Ireland is not currently employing certain professions, that could have a knock-on effect and they will not come to our health service, which we need them to do. Ireland’s healthcare system, like that in most countries, is very multicultural. All medical professions virtually everywhere in the world - Ireland is no different - are very multicultural, with a huge number of nationalities and motivated people who want to do their best for their fellow human beings.

The embargo is a retrograde step for our overall healthcare system, which we want to be one with greater equality than inequality. It is a significant step backwards, and I hope it can be addressed soon.

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