Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are debating an issue that touches every family and community across Ireland, which is the future of healthcare for our ageing population. This is far more than just a policy discussion. It is about ensuring dignity, safety and quality of life for our parents, grandparents and, one day, ourselves. The facts are clear. By 2030, more than 1 million people in Ireland will be aged 65 or older. By 2057, this number could nearly double. This demographic shift is not a surprise. It is a foreseeable challenge, yet for over a decade Fine Gael has failed to prepare. Instead of building a resilient health service, it has allowed hospitals to crumble under the pressure. Last January, a record 13,972 people were left on trolleys or chairs in overcrowded accident and emergency departments. More than 28,000 hospital appointments were cancelled. This was 5,000 more than the same month last year. This is not just a crisis, but the result of political neglect. Fine Gael wants to blame these failures on an ageing population. Let us be clear, however, that the problem is not our older people but a Government that refuses to plan ahead. It underfunded the national cancer strategy, leaving a €180-million hole in vital services. A stroke strategy was published, but then starved it of the resources required, putting lives at risk.

This inaction has turned our hospitals into pressure cookers, with soaring budgets and unsafe conditions. It does not, though, have to be this way. Sinn Féin has a plan to future-proof healthcare. Our vision is simple: prevention, proximity and people-first reform. We must prevent illnesses before they start. Chronic diseases, like cancer, heart disease and respiratory conditions, account for most deaths in Ireland. These are often preventable. Sinn Féin would invest in community health, sporting supports, housing and clean environments to tackle the root causes of poor health. We would expand screening programmes and empower pharmacies to deliver pharmacy-first care, thereby reducing the strain on GPs and hospitals. We will bring care closer to home. Too many older people end up in hospitals because they cannot access basic sports. Those admitted to hospital often see their discharge times greatly delayed as there is a complete and utter lack of space in step-down care facilities. Delayed discharges are adding more and more pressure to services already operating on the edge. Our home first policy will invest in homecare packages, rehabilitation services and local health hubs. We will train more GPs, especially in rural areas, and expand community nursing.

This is not just compassion: this is cost-effective. Keeping people healthy at home eases the pressure on overwhelmed hospitals. Fine Gael's reliance on outsourcing and mismanagement has wasted millions of euro. We will direct this funding into front-line staff, modern equipment and digital systems to cut waiting times and improve accountability. Our safer staffing initiative will ensure hospitals have the nurses and doctors needed to provide safe and timely care. Sinn Féin will take a whole-of-government approach, linking health policy to education, infrastructure and climate action. Healthy lives require more than hospitals. They require thriving communities. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil pour taxpayers' money into private outsourcing. We will cut this waste and invest in services that deliver. Let us be clear. Every cancelled appointment, every patient on a trolley and every life lost to a treatable illness is an outcome of this Government's failures.

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