Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I echo those comments to the team in the Seanad Office and the wider Houses of the Oireachtas.

I agree with Family Carers Ireland’s proposal. We need to move away from a means test quickly. If someone is doing a job that saves the State a fortune, he or she should be paid for it and there should not be a means test. I would like to think that the body politic is moving towards that position, which is welcome, and I hope that the change happens sooner rather than later.

The Leas-Chathaoirleach and Acting Leader will be disappointed to hear that 120 people are on trolleys in UHL today, which is terrible. This situation continues to worsen. The Minister has commissioned HIQA to carry out a report. I note and welcome the Taoiseach’s recent comments on Clare FM when he stated that he would be prepared to make more resources available to escalate and conclude HIQA’s work in a timely manner. Currently, HIQA is scheduled to report in June. We all know that an election will be called this week and that a new programme for Government will be negotiated. I hope that those negotiations will not continue until June and that we will have a new programme in place early in the new year. It is essential that we know the direction of emergency care in the mid-west for those negotiations, whatever the collection of parties or Independents in the new Government. Next June will be too late to get the report. We need to have it very soon after Christmas. The people of the mid-west deserve a better emergency service than what they are getting at the moment, with more than 120 people on trolleys on a Tuesday. How many will there be on Saturday? This is not acceptable and no one could stand up and defend it. The nurses and other staff are doing their best, but there clearly are issues. Those may be with management, but there are absolutely issues with capacity. This situation needs to be addressed. We need the HIQA report urgently so that it can inform the mid-western healthcare element of whatever programme for Government is put in place.