Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

An example of how the health services in County Mayo are getting worse and worse is a call I got from a mother today who has been waiting three years for her child to get a diagnosis. Finally, she said she could not stick another night of this and had to take the child to the hospital. I would say she is probably in the accident and emergency department in Castlebar hospital right now. This is because the health services in County Mayo are under severe pressure and this has continued to grow for the last decade. The Minister of State's party has ignored what is happening in local communities. The Government has failed to take every action available to it.

The lack of GPs is a slow-moving crisis and no action has been taken to address it. We do not train the number of doctors we need. This is not rocket science. We know how many doctors we need, but we do not train them. The Government continues to fail to join the dots between the number of training places and the workforce needed. Dental care for people with medical cards has collapsed in County Mayo as well, and this has happened over months and months.

The Government has also failed to invest in the community and district hospitals like those in Belmullet, Ballina and Swinford. This has resulted in heaping avoidable pressure on acute hospitals and accident and emergency departments. Primary care centres are now delivered almost exclusively by the private sector. I do not know how many times a primary care centre has been announced for Bangor Erris, but there is still no sight of it. This has led to delays and setbacks with projects, such as in Ballyhaunis, which is another area that has waited for years and years for a primary care centre.

Budget 2024 was a disaster for health services and the people of County Mayo deserve better. This is just one reason the people of County Mayo have run out of patience with this Government. People in County Mayo are crying out for change. Leo Varadkar reviewed his record and decided it was time to go. I am now calling on the Government parties to do the right thing and to call a general election. The leader of the country should not be chosen by Fine Gael alone. I ask the Government to do the right thing, call a general election and let people decide the type of health care service they need.

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