David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I call for a debate on health care. The Leader arranged for a debate a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, that was only 45 minutes long and it was not sufficient to critique the Government's failed health service plan and policies. Even top officials in the HSE over the weekend were talking about a lack of vision, a lack of resources and a lack of capacity. We saw from the now-averted nurses' strike that we have very real problems on the front line in our health service. None of that happened by accident. It happened through five budgets supported by all the Members on the Government benches who took money and capacity out of our health services. Our hospitals, primary care, mental health services and supports for people with disabilities were all stripped of resources and hacked away at over the past five years.

Today, Sinn Féin launched its Better for Health policy document, which is the first time any party has set out a costed plan for universal healthcare. Obviously during the course of the election campaign, we will go toe-to-toe with the Government parties and others on that. The Government has now abandoned its policy of universal health insurance, and very senior officials in the HSE are now saying what many of us in the Opposition had been saying for a long time, namely, that the Government and the country is rudderless when it comes to health care and that there is no leadership coming from the Government, the Minister or the Department. It is very serious and is having an impact on patient care. The crisis has driven up waiting times in many specialties, including in Waterford, the Leader's own area, where key services, such as opthalmology, ENT and others, are at crisis point. People are waiting two years and more to see an orthopaedic consultant. That is the direct outworking of the failed policies of this Government and the five budgets the Leader and his colleagues supported over the past five years. I call for a debate on these issues