Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I warmly welcome the Government's proactive approach to this issue because it is something I have dealt with in my work in recent years. One thing I was very grateful for were the specialist clinics for treatment of complex cases. Unfortunately, the law of averages pertains to all issues in life, and the whole issue of menopause can have varying degrees of complex cases. I acknowledge the work that has already been done and I appreciate what is going to happen going forward regarding State-funded HRT treatments. It is welcome. It is only right that we do anything we can to assist ladies in these types of difficulties. I thank the Minister and the Government for doing that.

I do not like shouting at the Minister at all. It is the exact opposite, in fact. There is a reason, however, that everybody is getting heated here today.

I want to say this in a very cool and proper fashion, with respect to the Ceann Comhairle. Today, for example, many people marched outside University Hospital Kerry in Tralee. These are workers who are working for us. When I say that, I mean they are working for the State. If we need help and to go to hospital or if our parents, grandparents or other family members have to go to hospital, we have to rely on those people. Those people are not coming out and protesting outside the gates of the hospital for the fun of it or because they are happy with you. I do not like personalising anything. When I say "you", I mean the Minister for Health. It could be Deputy Donnelly or the person before or after him. It is whoever holds the position of Minister for Health. If they were happy, they would not be protesting. They would not be coming out and saying they need this, that or the other. The reason people like me are standing up now or earlier today and being angry about that is that we are their voice. Being a Teachta Dála means nothing more than one is a messenger of the people. We have to come up here. Earlier this morning, I wanted to go to Kerry because I wanted to be with those people outside the gate to show them that a person who is elected for them was listening to them. I did not go because I decided my place was to be here, to speak and be a voice for them here. I am saying this respectfully. I am not shouting across the floor at the Minister and one thing I am definitely not doing, because I do not agree with it, is personalising it and saying the Minister did this or that. It is the office of the Minister. Of course, we would like to see issues like cataracts being dealt with. I will send a bus up to the North next week. We should not have to be doing that. We should have a proper ophthalmology unit in University Hospital Kerry, Tralee. If something happens to the eye of a person working on a lever crane or in a farm yard, such as a bit of steel flying into it - it could be the simplest thing in the world - that person will not be able to get that taken care of in Kerry. The person would have to head to Cork. That is wrong. We should have better services.

Do I acknowledge that services have improved in certain areas? I do, but I am working very closely with people who work in our community hospitals and they are under severe pressure. I know of people going in at 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. on their days off to do paperwork just because they are diligent. They are not paid any extra for doing that, not one euro, but they are doing it on their day off because they want to keep their day off as their day off but at the same time they do not want to be clogged down with paperwork. They are not saying anything about it to anybody. I personally know of people going in at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. and doing paperwork and then going away and calling that their day off. They are not making any song and dance about it. That is why we are angry when we are speaking for those people. If everything was right, we would not be standing up here and criticising the Minister. I heard the robust answer the Minister gave to Deputy Boyd Barrett. Deputy Boyd Barrett is passionate when he is speaking, as are the rest of us. Why is that so? It is because we are diligently doing our jobs and fighting for people. We are not sent in here to be silent or to be mummies. We have to hold the Minister and his Department to task.

It is not as though the Minister is not armed with money. My God, you could wallpaper the walls with the money that the Department of Health is getting. The amount of money the HSE is spending every year is astronomical. If you put it on a graph, Warren Buffet could hardly keep account of it because the amount of money we are putting into health is going straight up to the stars. It is really astronomical. It is frightening. At the same time, the delivery on the ground is not there. Why are nurses collapsing under the pressure of work? Why are they complaining? These people are not complainers. Every one of the fine nurses, doctors and catering staff are diligent people. They are not groundlessly complaining that they are overworked and underpaid. They are proud of their work. They want to be there but they want to feel appreciated. They do not want to be run ragged. I know the Minister will appreciate this but what every one of us here today should be focusing on is the patient, that is, the person lying in a bed. It could be a stroke victim who needs an extra bit of attention to be helped up and put sitting on a chair. Can the Minister imagine how bad he would feel if he was a nurse and knew that Mr. A or Mrs. B should be taken out three times a day but, in his heart and soul, he knew he could only do it once a day because of time constraints? He would be upset in the evening when he was going home and he would feel that he did not get around his ward. It is not the fault of the nurses in these situations. They can only do so much. That is why they relay it to us and we come up here. That is why we are angry.

The Minister should not take it as though it is a personal attack or anything. To be blunt, it is us doing our job properly. If we were not on our feet and getting cross, we should not be here at all. The Minister should not blame us for being factual or tough. All we are trying to do is stand up for vulnerable people and, ultimately, the patient. We are shouting on behalf of the person lying on a bed who needs extra physio. The Minister should not blame us for shouting up for people.

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