Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will flag at the beginning that I will oppose Nos. 2 and No. 3 on the Order of Business, simply because I believe both of those items need further debate. It is a pity that we seem to be compressing everything at the moment. We all know there is an election on the way very shortly but these issues are very important and we need to debate them. I flag this to the Deputy Leader.

I see SIPTU has stepped up its campaign of protests against the HSE's pay and numbers strategy. I am not surprised. I had a Commencement matter on this topic last week. I have been contacted since by a number of staff members, particularly but not exclusively from UHL, to speak about the fact we are understaffed in our hospitals. The INMO is balloting for strike action. I do not know how we square this circle. We have a €24 billion surplus and yet we are understaffed. According to the INMO, we are 2,000 nurses short across the hospital system right now. When I tabled a Commencement matter last week, I was told the number of new staff hired, which frankly is missing the point. We need to examine the demand for services and see if we have safe staffing in place. The clear message from the INMO and SIPTU is that we do not have safe staffing in place. What we have is effectively the moratorium under another guise. We have ceilings and caps on recruitment.Crucially, it means directors of nursing across our hospitals do not have the power to make hires. They need to have the power, when they need to hire a nurse for here or for there, to go ahead and do it. They do not have that power; it is restricted from them. I am really concerned about this. We are heading into winter. We have significant staff shortages. We still have no idea of a plan in respect of UHL in particular or indeed across the hospital network. We have a Minister for Health who, frankly, is always missing in action. I cannot tell you the last time he actually came in here for a Commencement matter, certainly not in the last three years. We really need an urgent debate on this, even in the limited time we have left.

The second topic I want to raise is what is happening in Palestine. I was at the protest at Shannon on Saturday. It was not given sufficient coverage. There were thousands there. They were drawing attention in particular to the role Shannon Airport continues to play in supporting US military and in support the conflict, the genocide that is going on there. I do not see how we can square the circle. If we are against what the Israeli Government is doing, how are we turning a blind eye to what the US military is doing in support of that through Shannon? This includes direct flights from Shannon to and from Israel. The pictures we saw at the weekend of people burning in their tents, my God. I am only hearing the word "genocide" from this side of the House. Why is that? Why are we not absolutely clear that what is happening in Palestine, in Gaza is genocide? Why are we not taking action against it? Before this Government finishes I would like to see the occupied territories Bill passed. We need more than just words. We need actions.