John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be curt without being unpleasant to anybody. I thank the Minister of State for being here. The point has already been clearly made that with the people waiting to get in, it is not just that their life is on hold but their opportunities are going backwards at a rate of knots. It is a massive issue, as has already been said. I thank Senators Boyhan and Kelleher, who have pushed this, as well as the Neurological Alliance, for their work.

The complexity of medical conditions of patients referred to the NRH in recent years has increased. It could have been anticipated. There was a strategy to deal with people who have suffered strokes and other conditions going back 20 years. If fewer people were dying as a result of these conditions, there would be more people with legacy issues. I am not trying to be cynical.Will somebody else be robbed in some other place in order to get the beds back incrementally? I sense that we take the fire engine to one place and take it from wherever it was.

The Minister of State referred to the neuro-rehabilitation strategy. There is no outcome action set out in it. There is an extra process, another process around the framework and a commitment involving the Department and the HSE that when this whole thing gets going, it will have a community focus. That, however, is selling us a pup at this stage. There is actually nothing stating there will be an outcome action for people. There is an honest-enough reference to consideration in the Estimates process.

People are waiting to get in but whenever they get in and go through, if ever, they will be waiting to get out and go back to a home and community that can properly take care of them, including to a house that will be accessible, etc. There are major issues.

I ask the Minister of State to make sure, in respect of a Department in which he has an interest, the Department of Justice and Equality, the issue of traffic enforcement is addressed. Every single accident prevented helps, as does stronger enforcement of the traffic code.