Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

That is outrageous. How that can be done is unconscionable. The fact that the two Ministers delivered the policies of today and did not mention homelessness is beyond belief, but it is probably not beyond the belief of all those people who are in homelessness because that is what they expect. Homelessness is not an inevitability; it is the result of having a weak, broken housing system that fails to meet the basic needs and fundamental human rights of our people. It should not be seen as inevitable. It should not be something that we become desensitised to. It is not good enough that even more children will be in emergency accommodation this Christmas.

To our great shame, we have an epidemic when it comes to domestic abuse in this country. Every week in my clinics, women disclose domestic violence to me. While it is good that more women are coming forward, I am repeatedly shocked at the institutional barriers that are placed in the way of women leaving domestic abuse. There are still nine counties in this State that do not have a domestic violence refuge. The reality is that our refuges are bursting at the seams because it is nearly impossible to find an alternative safe secure home when trying to leave those shelters. That is the reality despite knowing that there is an increase in demand. We know that from Women's Aid, which has told us that there was a 12% increase in demand for front-line services. That block in terms of housing is huge. Progress is slow and without the urgency that is essential, one in three women will continue to experience, psychological, physical and-or sexual abuse from an intimate partner. That figure just shows that this is everywhere. We all know people who have been impacted by this. We need to take a leadership role in tackling this and calling it out.

We need increased funding but we also need to make legislative changes that would make a world of a difference. There are simple changes that can be made. Many councils do not deal with women who have left abusive relationships as a category under their hardship terms. That should be a no-brainer. I have dealt with a woman who spent years on the council list in one county and when she moved to her home county as a direct result of domestic violence, her years were wiped because people cannot bring their years across county boundaries even in cases where their lives are literally on the line due to domestic violence. She had to start from the beginning and now she and her children are in emergency accommodation with no prospect of being offered a home. These are things the Government could and should change, but it has chosen not to.

Tá an Ghaeltacht fágtha arís eile in áit na leathphingine ag an Rialtas. Tá géarchéim sa Ghaeltacht. Tá easpa tithíochta inti agus buninfreastruchtúr atá i ndrochchaoi. Níl áit le ceannach, le tógáil nó ar fáil ar cíos sa Ghaeltacht. Tá ar ár ndaoine óga an Ghaeltacht a fhágáil mar nach bhfuil áit ar bith le cónaí acu. Is daoine muiníneacha iad seo atá ag iarraidh saol a chaitheamh trí mheán na Gaeilge agus a gcuid teaghlach a thógáil sa chaoi céanna, ach níl aon rud ag athrú i dtéarmaí tithíochta. Níl an toil ann. Níl na dréacht-treoirlínte pleanála don Ghaeltacht foilsithe fiú. Cé go raibh sé seo geallta roinnt uaireanta le blianta anuas, níl siad foilsithe. Caithfear iad a fhoilsiú agus a phlé.

Tá an Rialtas ag maíomh as €36 milliún sa bhreis a sholáthar do bhuiséad na Gaeltachta. Nuair a dhéantar tochailt air sin, áfach, níl ach €11 milliún breise do bheartais nua luaite ag an Rialtas, i bhfad níos lú ná an méid a theastaíonn ón phlean fáis don teanga de chuid Chonradh na Gaeilge. Is cosúil gur cur i gcéill atá sna milliúin eile. Tá an Rialtas ag déanamh athrá ar thograí caipitil a bhí geallta cheana féin. Níl ach €2.5 milliún suarach le dul i dtreo Údarás na Gaeltachta. Teastaíonn infheistíocht de €11 milliún don údarás chun dul i ngleic le cúrsaí tithíochta agus an fhadhb infreastruchtúir, chomh maith le forbairt na Gaeilge mar theanga phobail. Tá an fhadhb infreastruchtúir chomh mór sin nach bhfuil suíomhanna ar fáil leis na seirbhísí cuí a sholáthar chun tithe a thógáil. Tá bóithre ag titim as a chéile de bharr creimthe, cáblaí fós ar an dtalamh tar éis na Stoirme Éowyn agus droichid atá dainséarach de bharr easpa infheistíochta.

Chun ár dteanga a chaomhnú, caithfidh an chéad ghlúin eile a bheith in ann cónaí sa Ghaeltacht. Ciallaíonn sé sin go dteastaíonn tithíocht, ach tá cúnamh eile de dhíth freisin. Caithfear scéim labhairt na Gaeilge a thabhairt ar ais agus tá sé thar am go dtabharfar an t-airgead atá tuilte ag mná tí dóibh. Teastaíonn tithíocht, buninfreastruchtúr agus poist mhaithe sa Ghaeltacht. Is iad sin atá ag teastáil chun an Ghaeltacht a fhás agus a choinneáil bríomhar.

Today, there are 510 people lying on hospital trolleys, 84 of whom are in University Hospital Limerick, with 64 in my local hospital in Galway. I am sure many of us have been in accident and emergency departments recently and we have seen what it is like. Many of those people are lying in corridors that are bright, cramped and noisy. They are in conditions with zero privacy. I always think it would be difficult enough for people who are in the prime of their health to sleep in such conditions but for those who are not feeling well, who are in pain and who are extremely worried about their health, it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible. People and families are tired of having to fight for things they should be entitled to, things that would make their health journey just that bit easier - for example, people struggling for years with high medical costs trying to get a medical card but being refused time and again.

While all parties have signed up to Sláintecare, it is clear from budget to budget that there is just no consensus on universal healthcare. This budget will not deliver affordable and accessible public healthcare. The reality is that families cannot wait any longer. We need better and more affordable access to medical care. That, if anything, should be a basic fundamental right. When a person becomes ill, he or she should have access to healthcare.

Unfortunately, every year, Ministers stand here and promise us more and more. They act like the penny has finally dropped, that they will change things and that it is going to be better. The reality is that the reason things do not change is because of the decisions made here today but also because sums tend not to add up. Last year the Government launched a plan for 3,000 additional hospital beds by 2031 but it has not accounted for them. It promised elective hospitals again and again but where are they being accounted for? What the Government has laid out in capital falls short and will continue to fall short.

What the Government should be telling us today is what it has decided not to deliver. Is it the elective hospital in Galway that will not make the cut this decade? While we are blessed with fantastic staff, they are working in very difficult conditions. We need to invest in those conditions. We have staff who work in the most difficult conditions in our hospitals and they need to be supported.

The Government’s recruitment embargo did exactly what it said on the tin. It halted recruitment and we are still unable to catch up as a result, with recruitment figures being half of what they were before the embargo. We need to be ambitious in our targets. We must increase the number of university places, abolish graduate entry medicine fees, double the health and social care places at third level and make it far easier and more attractive for young people, our young medical professionals, who are abroad to come home, work in our health service and build a life here.

To be honest, what I was expecting today was to see a clear commitment to women with endometriosis but it seems the Government has committed nothing to endometriosis care in the budget. Let me repeat that the Government seems to have committed nothing to the women who are in pain and are suffering with endometriosis and who are without access to adequate services. There should have been a clear commitment of €20 million to develop world-class endometriosis services. The Government is treating women’s healthcare as an item for export. This needs to end. We need to be serious about women’s healthcare. We need to ensure women are supported from adolescence to menopause and beyond. We need to structure and tailor healthcare needs based on each individual woman and their healthcare requirements. Women should not feel forced to campaign about their endometriosis and tell their very personal stories to get the Government to invest in endometriosis care; it should be doing that anyway. The only message this budget seems to send is that they will still have to continue campaigning. This should be from a different time, not from now.

Every family has been touched by mental health difficulties and illnesses. Physical and mental health need to be treated equally. We need to treat it as the emergency that it is and move to universal access to community-based therapy, counselling and support, alongside addressing the crisis in emergency and acute services. If people want to know how much the Government cares about mental health, they will only need to see that it copied and pasted the mental health section from last year’s budget and changed seven words. No one in crisis should be turned away or told to wait until the morning for access to emergency mental healthcare. Mental health is 24-7; it is not just from nine to five. Our services must reflect that reality.

See this speech in context