Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Norris as ucht a chuid ama a roinnt liom. Táim ag tacú leis an rún atá molta ag Páirtí an Lucht Oibre. Glacaim leis go bhfuil fadhbanna leis na seirbhísí sláinte agus nach bhfuil siad ag obair mar is ceart. Caithimid díriú ar na fáthanna nach bhfuil siad ag obair mar is ceart.

It is not enough to say that the HSE is overly bureaucratic, was established in haste and completely lacks democratic accountability. All of that is true and must be addressed. However, the problem is more fundamental. The problem is Government health policy, which is based on the retention of our two-tier, public-private, apartheid health system. This is the core problem. The problem is the Government's failure to deliver on primary care, making us over-reliant on our over-stretched hospitals. The problem is the lack of commitment on the part of Government to putting patients first and to treating patients on the basis of need and need alone. It puts book-keeping before life-saving, as we see in the current cutbacks being imposed by the HSE at the behest of the Government. We all know these cuts are having a significant effect. Today we learned of staff lay-offs in Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin. There is no doubt that sick children will suffer if that is allowed to go ahead.

I will give as an example an individual case, even though Senator Norris gave me the time and he does not like citing individual cases. However, it lends a human side to the story. It is important to note, as other Senators have said, that these are not statistics, they are real people. Today, the office of my colleague, Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, was contacted by the family of a 70 year old man who had to attend Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda yesterday for an X-ray on his arm which was broken some weeks ago. He had to wait eight hours for the X-ray. He could not gain access to the toilet because of long queues and could not help urinating as he sat in the chair in the overcrowded accident and emergency department.