Elisha McCallion (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Sinn Féin team, I also welcome the Minister to the House. I have no doubt that he has a mighty task ahead of him but he will have our support in doing his job in the time ahead. I am not sure whether it is a compliment to be held in such high regard by the current British Prime Minister but I assure the Minister that I will not hold that against him in the time ahead.

I would like first to extend appreciation and my party's heartfelt thanks to all of the healthcare workers wherever they worked within the system over the past number of months. Their dedication and loyalty in saving people's lives and keeping them safe during this pandemic has been outstanding. We are in awe at the service that they and others have provided for us all at this dangerous time. Those people deserve more than just our thanks, appreciation and applause once a week. I, for one, never again want to be on the side and standing with strikers. In the past, people have rightly had to stand up for better conditions. We want to see all front-line workers being appreciated by this Government and all governments in the time ahead for not only the sterling work they have done over the past six months but that they do daily.

I am approaching this Bill on the basis that I believe that we now need a national health service for all of the people of Ireland. I want an all-Ireland service and system of universal healthcare, accessed on the basis of need, free at the point of delivery and funded by progressive taxation. While the increased co-operation with the health services, North and South, has been beneficial, it is now time to move to the full integration of services across the island, taking the best of both systems and maximising the healthcare benefits for all of the citizens across the island.

Over recent years, there have been excellent examples of how North-South co-operation has resulted in improvements in services for patients and their families. An obvious example is the North West Cancer Centre, which has offered a first-class service to the residents of Derry, Donegal and further afield who, until its establishment, had to travel for hours to access treatment at their time of need. We need more examples like that and begin to think big. We can no longer afford the duplication of healthcare services across the two states. It is beyond the time that we looked at healthcare on an all-island basis.

People need, deserve and want to know what an all-Ireland health service could look like. While I appreciate that the Bill will not resolve the fact that this Government needs to wake up to the fact that others are exploring options for an all-Ireland health service while it is not, I assure the Minister and his colleagues that I will, on every occasion, draw to his and others' attention the fact that partition has failed this country and its people. Partition also fails patients.

Primary healthcare and community care should be the cornerstone of our health service throughout the island. That applies to health services in this State and in the North. Such an approach will deal with the bulk of the healthcare needs of the population and take the pressure off acute services at times they are under stress. The strength of this Bill lies in the fact that it aims to help to improve the health and well-being of two very important sectors of society, namely, the young and the elderly. Sinn Féin will support the Bill but it has one weakness, namely, that there are no specific dates attached to its implementation. I believe that the Bill has been further weakened by the comments of the Minister yesterday in the Dáil when he said that its implementation was conditional on finance being available, which is totally unacceptable. I heard the Minister, in this Chamber, talk about a phased approach, suggesting that it was in some way to do with ensuring that we do not overburden the health service. Let me assure him that parents will continue to take their children to see a GP only when they need to do so. The phased approach is based on finance and nothing else.

This Bill needs certainty in terms of timeframe for implementation and funding from the Government.While I appreciate negotiations are under way with various stakeholders, that is not an excuse for not attaching a desired timeframe for implementation. I am calling on the Minister to speedily resolve this omission by attaching a timeline to the negotiations or, once they are completed, attaching an immediate timeline at that point.

In specific terms, the Bill will expand free GP care to children aged under 12 and for those aged over 70 who are eligible. Of course that is a good thing.

The issue of the national health service as a necessity has become a part of the national debate around the provision of healthcare across the entire island. In last year's alternative to the budget, Sinn Féin proposed two free GP visits for everyone without a GP or medical card, as well as a medical card entitlement for all of those who are suffering from cancer. Our manifesto for the February election, which the Minister will remember saw Sinn Féin become the largest party in the State, committed to delivering free GP care over the term of a Government, commencing with our alternative budget measures. In the meantime, let the Minister sort out the timeline for funding of this Bill. These are manageable tasks for him and well within his remit. I ask the Minister if that is something he will do because that is the question to which people want answers.