Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also thank the Labour Party for bringing the motion to the House today.

Members of the Fórsa trade union are due to join their colleagues in SIPTU and the INMO to protest on the Western Road in Clonmel on Thursday. I call on anyone who can attend to do so, and to show their support and solidarity between 12.30 p.m. and 1.30 p.m. While I suggest that Government representatives should attend, I assume they will not, as they are fully briefed on the damage that has been inflicted on the health service as a result of the decision to cut roles that were funded up to now.

I heard the Taoiseach cite facts and figures to beat the band the other day, but what he did not do was list the experiences of workers or service users and their families who experience ongoing difficulties and delays in getting the services they need. Again, we appear to be at a stage where that is taken for granted by this Government, despite what it claims in public. We do not hear Government representatives speak for the children whose physiotherapy needs are relegated to once a fortnight or the fact that the CDNT teams in Tipperary have gone from a vacancy rate of approximately 30% to more than 50%. The Government is not exactly shouting from the rooftops the fact that posts that were vacant at the end of December are no longer funded. They include, for example, the post of clinical psychologist in both CAMHS teams in Tipperary or the occupational therapist in team 2.

The Government apparently prides itself on the work done but, in my opinion, the job has not been done. Behind each vacancy figure is an individual - a family that has been left without. If the Minister speaks to the unions I have mentioned, he will see that behind each of these figures are staff members who in their own words are running themselves ragged in the process and really not achieving what they set out to achieve, which is quality patient care.

This is the Minister's record. What we need and what Sinn Féin would do is roll out a workforce plan where training and recruitment are in sync with each other; where training targets and need are related; and where every graduate would be offered a job in the public system, not the race to the bottom the Government appears to pursue.

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