Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The crisis we are encountering is staggering. We see it every day when dealing with constituents who are just seeking to access the most basic healthcare services. What we are discussing first hit home with me a number of years ago when Fine Gael's health policies really started to impact. A family returned home to County Monaghan and contacted me to say they could not get a GP to take them on. It was the first time I became aware of just how bad the situation had become. I became aware of GPs working way beyond their desired retirement age. They were doing so because they believed they had an obligation to the community and understood what would happen if they were to retire suddenly. These GPs were picking up the slack for Government failures.

What we are discussing also hit home with me on many occasions when people tell me about the child who might have what is considered a minor cough. The parent has to ring their GP service every day as that cough becomes worse and as a virus or an infection takes hold. Then days or possibly weeks later the child needs treatment he or she would otherwise not have needed if he or she had had speedy access or if the local pharmacist was in a position to treat the child, which many pharmacists tell us they can do. We are dealing with a situation that is the result of the other crises within our health and disability services and that this Government is overseeing. Our GPs are burdened with a huge number of asks that should not necessarily be their responsibility. If disability services, mental health services and other services were working as they should be, GPs would not be burdened with producing referral after referral in the hope of progressing people's care.

Local services are challenged as a result of workforce shortages and the working conditions in which GPs are expected to operate. The root cause of this is a failure on the part of the Government to implement a vision. I am so grateful that Sinn Féin has a spokesperson for health in Deputy David Cullinane who has such a vision and that Sinn Féin has a plan to realise that vision to deliver the changes in our health services that are so badly needed and that this Government is clearly incapable of achieving.

See this speech in context