Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will raise two issues. The first is the ongoing and horrendous plight of patients and staff in University Hospital Limerick. We hit a new record yesterday when there were 95 patients on trolleys and chairs. For 11 years, we have had this ongoing story of failure. Let us be absolutely clear about that. The situation continues to get worse. The numbers do not really tell the story. I had a call from a lady last week, a trade union colleague, who endured three days on a trolley before getting a bed. She then had an urgent procedure and was sent home, only to have to be readmitted on the same evening, when she faced another 24 hours on a trolley. In another example, a woman took up a bed for eight days because it was the only way she could get an MRI scan. This tells of the level of dysfunctionality in the system that is ongoing.

In theory, we are all signed up to Sláintecare. We know, therefore, that the emphasis has to be on rapidly enhancing primary care but that has not happened. A number of the people heading into the accident and emergency departments should be going somewhere else entirely. However, the failure of successive Governments to provide sufficient resources for primary care means they all end up in accident and emergency departments.To be frank with the Deputy Leader, we need more than a debate on the matter. I would like to hear some accountability from Government politicians. Fine Gael in particular has failed the people of Limerick year on year, and the situation continues to get worse. I am really afraid we will hit the 100 mark over the coming days. All this could have been foreseen. Five months ago anyone could have told the Government we would have an extremely hard winter in our hospitals, but no plan and no significant additional resources have been put in place. It is an ongoing disaster failing the people of Limerick. I call for a debate on the matter.

The second issue I wish to raise is the Government's decision to continue to privatise local employment services. This is absolutely outrageous. People are now losing their jobs. I will quote from correspondence a lady sent to me and all other Senators. She works in Galway City Partnership. She says:

I do not want to be made redundant by the actions of ... [the Department of Social Protection] ....

I have been working with the Galway City Partnership for 7 years and I am really worried about being made redundant in 2022 by the same Department that I have effectively been working for all these years, as it seems that those at the top of the Department ... have now deemed that we in the ... Jobs Clubs are simply surplus to their requirements.

The new model the Government has put in place is a privatised model of employment services. Why are the people in this room not standing up and stopping this? We have a Minister hell-bent on privatising services across the State, and nobody on the Government side is prepared to shout "stop".