Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Our healthcare workers have halved the time that people wait for an outpatient appointment but Deputy Boyd Barrett says that is irrelevant. They have revolutionised women's healthcare but Deputy Boyd Barrett says that is irrelevant. They have brought in IVF and free contraception and are about to bring in free HRT, and they brought in specialist services in menopause and endometriosis, but Deputy Boyd Barrett says that is not progress and not relevant to anybody. They have invested in cancer services and cancer survivorship rates are getting better and better in our public hospitals but Deputy Boyd Barrett says that is not relevant, not important and not progress. We have massive new community-based services in his constituency, in mine and everywhere else, but Deputy Boyd Barrett says that is not relevant and that healthcare workers are not making any progress. We have had a massive reduction in costs for patients but, apparently, that is not progress and is not relevant. Apparently, things like free IVF, free contraception and 500,000 more GP cards are not relevant.

They are relevant. I acknowledge Deputies Cullinane, Shortall, Berry and others who at least, while rightly holding the Government to account, to their credit, acknowledge that healthcare workers are making things better for patients.

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