Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As this is my first time speaking in this new Dáil, I want to thank the people in Limerick who elected me for a third time. I thank my family and friends and those who campaigned and supported me in that, whether they gave me their first preference or a different preference. "Go raibh maith agat" to everybody for sending me back here for a third time.

On health, the programme for Government is the same rehash of undelivered old commitments and contains no solutions for the daily crisis we encounter in University Hospital Limerick, UHL. The programme for Government is 161 pages long and has one mention of UHL. To say the people of Limerick are disappointed by that would be an understatement. Considering the consistent level of overcrowding at the hospital and the litany of unfortunate and avoidable deaths arising out of that overcrowding, the programme for Government is an extremely disappointing document.

Should the Government need reminding, UHL is the most overcrowded hospital in the State and is one that is in a daily crisis with hundreds of people being treated on hospital trolleys, chairs and corridors. Already the figures for 2025 are stark. For instance today, there are 103 people on trolleys and 2,551 people so far this year have waited on trolleys or chairs with no bed available for them. It is an utter disgrace.

In January this year, 2,234 people were treated in this manner. This is even higher than the 2,073 people treated in those conditions in January 2024 so it is clearly getting worse. What is often lost when we talk about these numbers is that each of these figures represents a person, sometimes one of our friends or a member of our family who has been deemed to be in need of a hospital bed but no bed is available to them. The programme contains a list of measures previously promised and not delivered. It is a document absent of vision and crucially lacks the funding and efficiencies needed to drive reform.

The people of Limerick and the wider mid-west will be disappointed with the complete absence of detail pertaining to the crisis at our hospital. With the challenges facing staff and patients at UHL, it is shocking that it is almost unmentioned in the programme for Government document. Perhaps it is an indication of the scant commitment Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have to resolving the multitude of challenges in health. In a 161-page document, a one-line vague commitment to increase capacity falls far short of the ambition needed.

Last year, in conjunction with my colleague Deputy David Cullinane, we published a comprehensive plan for addressing the crisis in health in the mid-west region. To address these challenges in the long term we need to at the very least deliver 288 acute inpatient beds at UHL; establish additional emergency department capacity in the region with a review of the closure of Ennis, St. John's and Nenagh hospitals; end the HSE recruitment embargo; bolster out-of-hours GP care and deliver a Pharmacy First minor ailments scheme; and legislate to mandate safe staffing levels in every hospital while engaging directly with workers.

On housing, the programme for Government says again that it acknowledges that “housing is a major social and economic challenge that touches every generation” and goes on to state that "a radical step change to housing supply to rise to that fundamental challenge" is needed. In the last Dáil, these two parties consistently missed their targets, year after year. They did not deliver on housing and I do not believe they can.

In Limerick city house prices remain beyond the reach of many people. The purchase price of a house increased year on year, from 2023 to 2024, by 13% with the cost of the typical home approaching €300,000. It is not any better for renters because the average monthly rent now stands a €2,107 per month, which is a 21% increase year on year. Given these types of costs, is it any wonder that 69% of 25-year-olds - a generation which has been failed by this Government and previous ones - are living with their parents?

I deal daily with people seeking housing assistance. From single men to families, people are desperately in need of housing. Many people have been waiting years for housing. Many workers on low to average incomes have no chance of purchasing and little chance of affording the astronomical private rents. We need to ramp up delivery of new homes. At the same time, local authority homes lie vacant across Limerick due to the Government’s failure to address properly the vacant council-owned properties and release the funds we need to deal properly with the voids issue.

Of course, in the general election these parties told us that completions would hit the 40,000 mark by the end of 2024. They told us that their housing plan was working, but it was not working. Targets were missed and last year there were not 40,000 houses completed. It was actually 10,000 less homes than what the Government was talking about.

The programme for Government outlines some ambitions in the delivery of mental health services and this is to be welcomed. We will not be found wanting in supporting these measures if the ambition outlined in this document is matched by timely action. Unfortunately, our experience of these two Government parties when it comes to mental health is one of false promises and delayed delivery. The programme for Government commits to the enactment of the Mental Health Bill. It acknowledges that this Bill is "essential to modernise our mental health services". I could not agree more with this sentiment but it needs to be delivered. When it comes to the Mental Health Bill, there has been false dawn after false dawn. After two and a half years of delay, the Government will forgive my scepticism that these two parties are now committed to the delivery of this legislation. The programme for Government for the Thirty-third Dáil promised to reform the Mental Health Act, and yet here we are at the start of the Thirty-fourth Dáil with more commitments to deliver the same. Mental health remains an under-resourced area of our health system. Mental health challenges can impact anybody at any time. Early intervention is crucial to managing one’s mental health. We in Limerick are fortunate to have so many fabulous support groups that offer their time and their energy, often voluntarily, to the cause of mental health. The previous Government, made up of the two parties opposite, did not treat mental health issues with the urgency needed and I remain to be convinced that this Government will be any different.

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