Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also want to give two pieces of advice to the Government. The Cabinet needs to sit down and decide about homelessness in a co-ordinated and communicative way. Most of us do not know what is going on, where, how and on behalf of whom. The information is completely dissipated.

I attended a packed conference this morning on positive aging in age-friendly cities and counties. The stories on the health service would make one's hair stand on end. Senator Swanick said the same thing earlier. This is a good Government but it has lost focus and is all over the place. The two biggest problems are homelessness and the health service. The Cabinet should be in a room to co-ordinate these two problems, especially the health service. Young nurses, radiographers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and interns are running out of the country because nobody who earns between €44,000 and €60,000 a year has any chance of ever being able to make a home here. That is a serious problem in respect of health services and homelessness. That is what the entire Cabinet should be considering, and not dispersing around the country on different issues and congratulating itself and others.