Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)

First, I want to make a comment personally in relation to everyone who works in the health service, the unbelievable staff, whether it is doctors and nurses, healthcare workers, or cleaners, canteen staff and maintenance staff. I myself was in a hospital yesterday for another appointment. I am regularly there because I have had a number of health issues over the years. It is inspiring to look at the people at the coalface providing the care. We can never underestimate and we should always mention the unbelievable work that they are doing.

When it comes to private healthcare, for far too many families in this State health insurance is no longer an option. It is a must because of the long waiting lists, the disastrous care that can happen if you have to wait years for treatment and the growing concerns that the public have that there is a lack of trust because of these waiting lists.

Many families want to be treated in the public health sector because that is the type of systems that should be delivered, but for many of them there is a lack of trust. It is not even a lack of trust; it is a fact that they will not be seen in time. The burden of having to pay private health insurance for many families is crippling because they know what will happen if they lose it. I know people who had to take a break from paying their health insurance because they could not afford it and to get back in a couple of years later, no illnesses in a five-year period can be put in. How is the Minister of State allowing that? Why is the Government not tackling the insurance company? If a person cannot pay and has to take a break for three, six or 12 months, they should be able. I have called to people who paid it for years and then they are starting all over again. That is not fair.

The Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance now as well, signed the contract for the children's hospital. I have a daughter aged 16. She will never see the children's hospital. It is not only my daughter, but all the other people out there who have children who have been waiting for this hospital for years. It is a scandal. Children who have suffered all their lives with illnesses will be aged out because this hospital that should have been delivered years ago, has not been.

This month, almost 800 people waited on trolleys in Cork's CUH and the Mercy hospital. Thirty thousand people are on waiting lists in both those hospitals. Three thousand people are waiting more than a year. Where is the elective hospital that was promised for Cork? If that elective hospital was there, those 3,000 people would be in and out of it within the year, and those 30,000 people could be treated. This Government is fooling no one when it comes to health. There is a cost-of-living crisis and at the same time, if you do not have private health insurance, your family will not get the treatment on time.

Last week, I was in this Chamber and a woman contacted me from a hospital in Cork because her elderly mother, who had issues with Covid and with her health overall, was in a room in an accident and emergency department and she needed to be in an isolation ward. The family was desperate. They were crying out for help. The nurses and doctors were doing everything they could but there was not the capacity there.

I will give the Minister of State a couple of facts. A study by the Geary Institute for Public Policy this year found Ireland's two-tier health system means those who cannot pay are pushed further down the list. This echoes the findings of the OECD in 2022 which ranked Ireland among the worst countries to access healthcare and for waiting times and found that we were the only western European state that does not offer universal coverage of primary care. We have no primary care centre in Glanmire. We have no primary care centre in Mayfield. We have no primary care centre in Blarney. All these need to be delivered.

We support this Bill today but this Government should be providing Sláintecare so that everyone has access to free health care. That is what the Proclamation said, that all people, all children of the nation, would be treated equally.

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