Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I commend this piece of legislation. At a time when we are told that Government does not understand the cost of living crisis and is not in tune with the people, is it not extraordinary then that the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, brought a piece of legislation to improve access to healthcare into the House today? As Senator Conway rightly said, it eases the financial pressure and worry of parents. My learned colleague and friend across the Chamber stood up today and welcomed the Bill - the hypocrisy of the Opposition never ceases to amaze me. Every day Opposition Members come in and tell us they do not understand and do not get it and that we are out of touch, yet what have we got before the House today? Another piece of supportive scaffolding by a Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government that is supposedly out of touch. It is extraordinary.

Today is a good day. In advance of today, we have seen a huge march towards universal healthcare from free GP care to today's legislation on inpatient charges for children. Of course, the Minister published the other Bill with regard to inpatient charges as well. Senator Currie this morning during the Order of Business made reference to the issue of Dublin Airport and parking charges. I ask that we as a Government look at the cost of car parking in our hospitals. I know it is a revenue source for hospitals but it is something we should look at again.

The Bill today is about easing the financial burden on parents and ensuring that no parent or guardian has to make a choice about the care of his or her young child. We all know from our families and our own lived experience of that middle-of-the-night excursion to the hospital or that after-match or mid-match trip to the hospital with a broken shoulder, leg, arm or whatever. Today is a positive day.

I commend the Minister on his piece of work around free contraception. It was said at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary get-together last week that Fine Gael was perhaps critical of the Minister. I will say on behalf of the Fine Gael Members that the idea of free access to contraceptive care is one we wholeheartedly embrace, which the Minister knows. I am glad he is bringing that forward. However, we should look at this in the context of Kitty Holland's piece in The Irish Timestoday about the Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortion Care, UnPAC, study from Trinity College Dublin, TCD, on women's reproductive health needs and care. Senator Ó Donnghaile and I will be ad idem on this and the issue of safe zones and the universality of access to care for women. I hope that we can have a debate on that UnPAC report after the summer recess because no woman in this country should have to feel frightened, inadequate or worried about accessing any type of healthcare. In the context of Roe v. Wade in America but more importantly here in Ireland, it is important that the chilling effect is not felt by our women.

Today, thíos staighre, the women of this Seanad and previous Members are celebrating Seanad 100. Look at the huge progress we have made in terms of women's health and women's reproductive rights in this country. Today is about the children and parents of Ireland, however. It is about ensuring that access to coverage of healthcare is given, which I very much welcome.

I will also make the point that in the context of our healthcare system, when we talk to pharmacists and GPs, they speak about pressure points, whether it is SouthDoc in County Cork or the locum cover in our community pharmacies. I hope the Government will reach out and a conversation will be had by the Department of Health and the HSE around the issues of our general practitioners and pharmacists who do tremendous work. I thank the men and women who work at the coal face and on the front line of our community healthcare, that is, our GPs and pharmacists. We can talk about how the quality of engagement and care and attention given in our chemists and pharmacists is extraordinary, and equally so with our general practices. Some of us have a worry that general practice is beginning to fray at the edges. That is not a criticism of the Minister, in case he or some of his colleagues think it is; it is not. It is about ensuring that our primary care system is top class and continues to be top class. Today is a great day, however. It is a day on which we celebrate a further scaffolding of support for our children and their parents.