Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I welcome the Bill and its improved provisions for carers. Carers are unsung heroes. Sometimes they get fed up. I say that because behind the unsung heroes is the hard reality of how they live and how we support them in what they are doing. They deserve our respect, compassion and support. They are the very reason for our amendment. The contribution they make to our society is unquantifiable from social, community and financial points of view. It is welcome that this Bill aims to improve the State services that are afforded to carers.

Our carers deserve full access to all medical services. Providing for medical and surgical services only, as this Bill does, is not enough. Sinn Féin supports a full transition to universal healthcare for all citizens. We need a national health service based on need, readily accessible from the cradle to the grave and funded by progressive taxation. Fine Gael supported this concept in 2007. It was in its famous, or perhaps mythical, five-point plan. Two Fine Gael health Ministers have since come and gone: current Senator and colleague, Dr. James Reilly, and the current Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar. It was, in fact, the current Taoiseach who scrapped the plans. The problem with the plan was that it involved privatising our health system through insurance contributions. It was selling off our health practices to the highest for-profit bidder while leading to higher and higher prices for patients through premiums. That is evident from the deterioration in care given in some cases, as in the case in the headlines early in the week. Sin scéal eile, however.

This plan was flawed, unfortunately. Sláintecare came along and recommended a universal single-tier health and social care system in which everyone has equitable access to services. This is the correct approach. We support it and have advocated this model for considerable time, best referenced in Sinn Féin's better4health document, which we launched two years ago.

Where is Sláintecare? There is a fear that civil servants are now watering it down. This is unacceptable. The cross-party committee will not accept it and the people, or all the people we represent, will not accept it. In planning for universal healthcare, we should be transitioning as many qualifying people as possible over to full medical cards. There can be no half medical cards, no GP-only cards or any other watered-down provisions. It needs to be all or nothing. Every week we deal with people trying to gain access to a medical card, including the gravely ill. I was dealing this morning with a woman in her 40s diagnosed with breast cancer. She has no job any longer because of her illness. She has had to jump through hoops trying to access her health entitlements.

The Minister will know that I tabled an amendment in this regard that would allow for a provision within this Bill to give access to drugs and medicines to carers on top of the proposed services. This amendment was ruled out of order due to a cost to the Exchequer. I understand this but I want to outline to the Minister today why this amendment is important. Many carers give up work entirely to care for their loved one. They cannot feasibly continue a career while giving 24-7 care. They devote their lives to keeping their loved ones – our citizens – at home and with their families. At times, this is a really difficult decision to make. It involves a complete change in lifestyle. As Senator Swanick alluded to, it often results in a life of isolation and being hidden away.

This is about a lot more than money; the time that carers save the State is colossal. There should never be a situation in which carers, because they have had to give of all or part of their income through leaving the formal workforce, cannot afford prescription costs and medicines. It is a fairness issue. Considering how much carers save the State, the very least we could do in return is offer a safety net to them. They should never be counting pennies in an almost empty purse. The €5 increase that the Minister referred to has completely vanished. The profits of the gas and electricity companies and the increases in rent have completely negated any €5 increase. The cost, according to the research document, is €2.8 million per annum. What I propose would be fairly cost-neutral if the efforts and everything done by carers, who effectively have mini treatment hospitals or centres at home, were accounted for.I ask the Minister of State to reconsider the amendment. We will be strongly pushing for support from across the House. The amendment will be resubmitted in the Lower House and I ask the Minister of State to give it consideration.

Overall, I commend the Minister of State on the Bill. More than that, I will take a moment to thank sincerely all the carers for the Trojan compassionate work they do. They are the warriors at the front line. We are starting the process of looking after them but we could do a lot more. I hope the Minister of State will take seriously the suggestions made today.