Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tá áthas orm labhairt ar na ráitis sláinte anocht.

The demographics are all pointing one way and that is towards a predominantly older population and decreasing birth rates. It is a phenomenon that we are witnessing across the western world and in dramatic forms in Asia, including China, where population replacement levels are collapsing. Clearly this will present enormous challenges for our healthcare system, especially in the context of an already overburdened nursing home sector where closures in recent years have been rising dramatically under cost conditions that are simply unsustainable for many private operators.

There is also a deeper, more fundamental challenge to us all. It is that in many ways we are becoming an anti-child and anti-family culture. We are now living in a society where an average of 10,000 abortions take place each year . We are also living in a society where it is becoming increasingly difficult for families to survive and thrive. Since 2021, I have repeatedly raised this issue with the Minister for Finance in the context of tax individualisation which may be discriminatory in practice as it penalises single-income married couples by making it necessary for them to pay more tax than two-income married couples.

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