Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)

The people parents trust most in the world are the doctors and surgeons who are supposed to care for their children. This is one of the most atrocious breaches of trust that can be believed. Imagine that, without your knowledge, someone who is supposed to care for your child implanted a device inside them. That should never have been allowed to happen. Compounding that, we find out that operations that were not necessary have been carried out on young children.

Independent Ireland has a simple plan: put patients first, hold leaders accountable and make the health service safe and fair for all. Right now, the HSE is too big, too closed off and too untouchable. That is why we want to create a real watchdog, fully independent of the HSE, to monitor what hospitals are doing. If something is being covered up, we want criminal prosecutions to be possible as opposed to just an internal memo being sent. We believe in protecting whistleblowers. Nurses, doctors or staff who speak up should be safe, not punished.

In the postcode lottery, if people live outside a major city, they know how hard it can be to get proper care. That is why we called for more funding for small regional hospitals in order that people in rural Ireland will not be left behind. Our policy states that 45% of the population live outside cities; they deserve access to urgent and routine care 24-7 just like everyone else. The Government should clear the waiting lists. It is no secret that people are waiting months, even years, for procedures. That is not just frustrating; it is dangerous. We support using private hospitals, both in the Republic and Northern Ireland, to get people the care they need faster, which I have been doing for the past number of years with our Belfast or Blind service, which I and Deputy Danny Healy-Rae set up. I also have the hip operation service. We want to expand elective surgery centres to stop the endless cycle of cancellations and backlogs. We need to rebuild trust. When children are harmed, parents are left in the dark, no one is held responsible and trust is broken. We need every family affected by the hip surgery scandal to be given a clear explanation, a full medical review of their child and support if their child has been harmed in order to allow them to move forward.

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