Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raise two very important issues. Tomorrow is 1 July, when Irish hospitals traditionally change their doctors. It happens because hospitals are massive training locations. You do a year as an intern and when that year is done you move to the next level of training, and so on. Tomorrow, for the first time in the history of Irish medicine, the hospital system finds itself short of first-year registrars. These are effectively the hospital consultants of the future. Why has this happened? I am told it is due to Covid. Covid stopped the travel, so they are only moving out now and no doctors want to work in the Irish system. The cost is too high versus the return. Does the Leader think the Minster for Health is aware of this and its far-reaching social and economic consequences?

The second issue is our national planning framework, published in 2018, prior to the most recent census and the Ukrainian war. The figures arising out of both of these warrant a re-examination of the framework as a matter of urgency. To take just one county, the Leader's and my county, as an example, Meath's development plan was based on a predicted population in 2026 of 216,221, rising in 2030 to 223,531. However, preliminary census figures show the population on 3 April was recorded at 220,295, which is an increase of 12% since 2016. The growth of the population of County Meath is far outstripping what was anticipated under the national planning framework and the county development plan. It is not alone in that regard when it comes to other counties, least of all Dublin, our neighbouring county, which is at the epicentre of a housing crisis. Taking all of this into account, and in light of his recent clarification that the Government will not acknowledge any logistical-limiting factors regarding the taking in of refugees, the Minister must come before the House and explain to the people of Ireland how it will work. He should immediately suspend the national planning framework and call upon the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage to review it in light of last week's CSO figures. The current development plans for Meath and many other counties are now dead in the water based on the figures. A failure to appreciate and act upon this will lead to more drawn-out difficulties and hardship down the line.