Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I remember the last moratorium, when Fianna Fáil was in government in 2009. It was a full public service recruitment moratorium. It was introduced in 2007 for the health service. The impact of that is still being felt today. The HSE did not recover from that and the evidence of that is all around us. The evidence of that is in the lengthy waiting lists in the health service and in the people who get left overnight on trolleys, on chairs, in corridors or wherever they can be put. That speaks to a staff shortage. That is the issue there. There is not enough capacity or staff.

I listened with interest to the Minister’s speech. As they say in the west of Ireland, he has a great welcome for himself. If I cut through the bits where he is throwing bouquets at himself, he refers to a target, and the setting of a target. It is not quite an achievement but the setting of a target, and it is absolutely laudable. I agree 100% that the elimination of cervical cancer is laudable. However, we need to get a bit of perspective. There are 650 women diagnosed with cervical cancer on an annual basis. That is about the same number as spend, on average, one night on a trolley. It is a laudable aim but perspective is also important.

The Minister says that he has no intention to cut services but Fianna Fáil said the same in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and services were cut to the bone. A recruitment moratorium, a pause, a freeze or whatever word the Government wants to put on it is a blunt instrument. It is no way to deliver decent healthcare. It is no way to treat those men and women who are working day in day out, night in night out to try to deliver a healthcare service. The Government has thrown in the towel on health, and the evidence of that is in its recruitment moratorium. Recruitment freezes do not work. They hurt patients. Recruitment freezes are what governments preside over when they have given up or thrown in the towel. The Government has underfunded the health service. It is compounding that with a recruitment freeze, and the people who will suffer are the patients and workers in our health service. Shame on the Government.

See this speech in context