It “beggars belief” that health was not a priority in this year’s budget when there is a “chronic and deepening crisis” in services, Sinn Féin has said.
The party’s deputy leader, Pearse Doherty, said Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly had been “hung out to dry” in Budget 2024 and added: “He is out of his depth.”
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil on Thursday, Mr Doherty asked what had happened to the Minister’s promise of 1,500 additional hospital beds.
“He [Mr Donnelly] announced it on three occasions, that promise has melted away like snow on the ditch,” Mr Doherty said. “It seems that the Minister was hung out to dry by a Government that has backed his incompetence every step of the way.
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“It is very clear to everybody that Minister Donnelly is out of his depth. He has no real plan to transform our health services and he makes it up as he goes along.”
The Donegal TD pointed out that the health service had got less than half of what it needed “just to stand still” in Budget 2024 and described this as “shocking”.
Mr Doherty said the budget was “a disaster” for the health service and the crisis would continue in terms of overcrowding and growing waiting lists. He said the health service required ambitious investment and a radical plan, which ensured additional staff and hospital beds.
The Sinn Féin TD said hospitals were “persistently and dangerously overcrowded to record levels” with hundreds of thousands of people on waiting lists while also pointing to delays in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) and children waiting on spinal surgery.
In response, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said there had been “unprecedented and record levels” of investment in the past three years in the State’s health services.
Mr Martin said the country had come through “a one-in-a-century global pandemic”, which had had a “huge impact” on the health service and continued to do so.
He said this included a dramatic increase in attendances, treatments and people requiring interventions.
Mr Martin also told Mr Doherty that “shouting and roaring” about issues wouldn’t solve or resolve them. He added that health funding for this year included staffing for new hospitals, additional beds, more college and training places and hospital consultants.
The Fianna Fáil leader said up to 22,000 extra people had been recruited into the health service since the Government had been formed, while costs for patients had also been cut.
He said up to 60 per cent of the population now hold a GP or medical card with free contraception for women up to the age of 31 introduced as well as public funding for assisted human reproduction, including IVF.
