Cian O'Callaghan
Dublin Bay North · Social Democrats · Ireland
“Unification presents distinct challenges that need to be carefully planned for and managed. The analysis done by Professor Doyle shows that the cost of pensions would be unlikely to transfer to a united Ireland straight away. Following Brexit, the UK and Ireland signed a bilateral convention on social security in 2019.”
“Ireland spends less than that defending a much larger territory and has decades of underinvestment to catch up on. We need increased investment, particularly in systems and technologies, including sonar and air surveillance radar.”
“I welcome this important discussion on the topic of Irish unity and its fiscal implications. It deserves analysis and fundamentally respect for the people, who will ultimately decide the future of this island. There are real challenges in any transition to unity but there are also very significant opportunities.”
“These are highly skilled jobs with union representation and apprenticeship programmes. They are of fundamental importance to the local economy and community. They should never have been left exposed in this way.”
“The Tánaiste must surely know that these exports are feeding Putin's war machine. Does he not think it is unusual that Ireland is one of the very few European countries where our exports to Russia have increased since Russia invaded Ukraine? That has been driven by the exports of alumina that have more than doubled.”
“We know from the investigation carried out by The Irish Times and the organised crime and corruption reporting project that alumina from Ireland is ending up in Russian owned smelters in Krasnoyarsk. Krasnoyarsk is Russia's only smelter producing high purity aluminium.”
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“I want to start by saying to the Tánaiste that the Government has lost a Minister of State who said clearly that the leadership of the Government was not listening. When I was talking to the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach earlier during the confidence motion and reading out the experience of the cost-of-living crisis of a nurse who had worked for years for the HSE in this country, he and the Taoiseach were having a grand old chat rather than-----”
“She also stated: I cannot get a deposit for a mortgage together. I cannot afford a small wedding for myself and my fiancé. I cannot afford to go to the doctor or the dentist when I am sick or ill and by the end of the week, my fridge is almost empty.”
“As the dust settles, people really struggling with the cost of living remain left behind, forgotten by this Government. These are people who cannot get their demands high up on the agenda by parking their trucks on O'Connell Street. They are people with disabilities who are already €1,400 worse off after this year's budget. A woman in my constituency had to make a choice this winter between heating her home and recharging her electric mobility aid. This meant she was virtually housebound for the winter. That is what this Government is doing to people. The words of a nurse sum up what so many people around the country are experiencing. She states: I am working with the HSE for 16 years. My paycheck goes straight to my account to pay bills, rent and childcare fees. I am in huge debt. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste should listen to this.”
“Gach lá, gach seachtain, feicfimid Rialtas atá caillte agus nach bhfuil cúram air do ghnáthdhaoine. This is a Government that does not listen. It does not listen to the people or the Opposition. It also does not listen to its own backbenchers. Having ignored all the warnings, the Government stumbled into a full-blown crisis last week. When calm leadership was required, we got chaos. Instead of pursuing a strategy of de-escalation, Ministers decided to fan the flames. GI Jim O'Callaghan arrived on the scene thinking that he was Rambo. Cá bhfuil sé anois? The last thing the country needed was that approach. Thankfully, a very effective professional policing response from An Garda Síochána brought the country back from the brink.”
“The country was brought to the brink last week and it is extraordinary that the Taoiseach will not answer questions today after the Dáil being in recess for three weeks. Why will the Taoiseach not take questions from TDs and party leaders in the Dáil today? Why does he think that is a good precedent to set? Has he learned nothing from the past week and from the mishandling of it in terms of the need for accountability and listening to people?”
“I welcome the fact the Taoiseach recognises this needs to be addressed. Losing your mum or dad, your carer, your advocate, your home and your community at the same time is incredibly traumatic. For people then potentially to be offered a place hundreds of miles away from where they have lived all their life and everything they have ever known is deeply inhumane. That cannot continue and the Taoiseach must act on it. Will he commit sufficient funding that is ring-fenced to address this? I welcome the other approaches that are being taken but funding must be ring-fenced to address this issue. Will he commit to that?”
“A vulnerable person is then put up for tender to private contractors. What sort of a care system is this? What sort of a country treats its citizens like this? An bhfuil aon rud á dhéanamh ag an Taoiseach chun é seo a shocrú? What will the Taoiseach do to fix this? When I raised this with the Tánaiste in February, he admitted there had not been enough progress. "Not enough progress" is a monumental understatement. The disability capacity review in 2021 identified the need for an additional 3,900 residential places just to catch up with pre-recession levels. Four years later, we still have thousands of families where elderly parents are working as full-time carers in their 70s, 80s and even 90s - four years of record budgets and little to show for it. When a parent dies, an adult with an intellectual disability is left stranded.”
“These are the words of a parent who contacted Newstalk recently: We're an elderly couple, both struggling significantly with health issues. We've been told by a very good day service that there are simply no places ... We will, sadly, die sooner rather than later because we get zero respite and never get a chance to recoup our energy. We've been told [our son] could be put anywhere in the country. This parent is not alone. Parents have no idea what will happen to their son or daughter after they die. They have no plan because there are no options - no gradual transition, no certainty about where they will be housed and nobody left to advocate for their son's or daughter's well-being. Only after parents die, when there is an emergency situation, will the State finally step in.”
“I welcome the northside home care workers in the Public Gallery today. They do incredible work in the local community looking after sick and elderly people and they must be paid a decent and fair wage. Parents and carers from Before We Die visited the Dáil recently to highlight the housing needs of adults with intellectual disabilities. The name of their campaign group sums up the grim reality of what they are fighting for. They are loving parents who want to be sure their daughters and son will be cared for after they are gone. This should not be too much to ask for in a country where the Government has billions at its disposal. They need more than sympathetic words; they need action to be taken, funding ring-fenced and plans put in place.”
“Céard atá ar siúl? An bhfuil aon rud á dhéanamh ag an Aire chun é seo a shocrú? An bhfuil aon smaoineamh aige? Does the Minister have any idea of the hardship that people are going through in terms of the overall approach the Government is taking?”
“Gach lá agus gach seachtain, feicimid Rialtas atá caillte ar bhealach, Rialtas nach bhfuil cúram gnáthdhaoine air. Ní gá go mbeadh sé ar an mbealach seo. Is féidir é a bheith difriúil. Rinne an Rialtas na roghanna míchearta. Tá na tosaíochtaí míchearta aige. Tá níos mó agus níos mó daoine á mbrú i dtreo na bochtaineachta aige. Tá níos mó agus níos mó daoine go hiomlán bréan den Rialtas seo. Tá athrú ag teastáil ó dhaoine. Ó thaobh na gcostas maireachtála, níl sé seo maith go leor. Ní mór dúinn cruthú níos fearr. Cruthóimid níos fearr. Níl aon am fágtha. Ní foláir dúinn gníomhú anois. Caithfimid gníomhú go práinneach. Ní foláir don Aire éisteacht agus gníomhú. Ní foláir don Rialtas éisteacht agus gníomhú. Ní rogha é go mbeadh a thuilleadh moille ná a thuilleadh easpa gníomhaíochta ann. Tá sé chomh simplí sin. Tá tráth an ghnímh tagtha.”
“Ireland has enough wind to power the island and enough money to make it happen. That is a fact. What we are missing is the political leadership to get that job done. While Spain and Portugal have insulated their people from this global crisis in terms of energy prices, the Government has left Irish households exposed to the actions and the chaos being created by the whims of Trump. We should and could be an energy independent electro-state, but instead we are not in that situation. We need proper action and leadership on that. I appeal to the Tánaiste to introduce a targeted energy credit. It makes sense, it is affordable and it can be done. It would make a big difference to people on low incomes, including low-paid workers who are not eligible for the fuel allowance. That would really lift people out of the difficulty they are in.”
“Look at what they have done in Spain and Portugal, for example, where wholesale electricity prices are at €60 to €70 per megawatt-hour, far below what we are at. Look at what Spain has done just since 2019, for example, where they have doubled their wind and solar capacity. They have added over 40 GW, cutting gas's influence on electricity prices by 75%. That is what they have done since 2019. We have more potential than they do, certainly in terms of wind, so why have we not done the same? While the Tánaiste has been in government, why have we not done it? If we had done that, we would not be in this situation of dependence that we are in at present. Spain has some of the lowest power prices in Europe. What do they have that we do not have such that they are able to do that? Of course, we should be doing this.”
“Fine Gael has been in government since 2011. It is now 2026. Sadly for this country and for people who are finding it very hard to meet their bills, the Tánaiste has completely and utterly missed the opportunity we have had. Ireland could be a superpower when it comes to renewable energy. We should be a superpower when it comes to renewable energy. Instead, we are one of the countries in Europe with the highest electricity bills despite these massive resources at our disposal. We should be leading in terms of clean energy. We should not be a laggard on it. Successive Fianna Fáil- and Fine Gael-led Governments have had the resources to be able to invest in this, so why have they not done it? Look at the example of Spain and what they have achieved.”
“These are not my figures; those are the figures from the Parliamentary Budget Office, which independently assesses what this Government has done. At the same time, it reduced the incomes of disabled people by up to €1,400. If someone is €1,400 down, a €152 extension in the fuel allowance is better than nothing but it does not begin to meet the gap that is there and the urgent need for support that people have. We put forward our proposal for a targeted energy credit, which we costed. I urge the Tánaiste to look at that. It is a sound and economically sustainable approach. That kind of approach will work, regardless of what happens over the coming weeks and months, and will provide the space for additional supports to be put in place as and when they are needed. The Tánaiste talks about achieving and accelerating energy independence.”
“The Tánaiste can use the word "targeted" all he wants - he has said it hundreds of times - but we put forward proposals for targeted measures that were fully costed and constructive, like the energy credit for 800,000 households at a cost of €362 million, but the Government did not implement them. Why does it not implement a targeted measure that would really help people who need it most? The Tánaiste uses the word "targeted" all the time but, as Deputy Nash said, we must look at what the Government's most recent budget actually did. It reduced the incomes of the poorest households in Ireland by more than 4%. That is what the budget did. It drove more older people into poverty, with the number increasing from 13% to 19%.”
“Since the budget when it withdrew the universal energy credits, which we never supported because we always said they should be targeted, the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach have said hundreds of times that targeted measures are needed. The extension of the fuel allowance is targeted but it is €152. What about low-paid workers and what about everyone who is entitled to the fuel allowance? Does the Government really think that a figure of €152 will get them out of the hole they are in? If you are reliant on home heating oil and have seen the price almost double, €152 will not cut it and the Government knows that.”
“The temporary reduction in excise duty will offer some overdue relief at the pumps, and the extension of the fuel allowance will give some respite to pensioners and people receiving social welfare, but it will not be enough. A figure of €152 misses the mark completely. What the Government is doing here is leaving hundreds of thousands of low-income workers who are facing astronomical increases, particularly in home heating oil, out of those targeted measures. The Government knows well that before Iran was attacked, there were 320,000 households in arrears on their electricity bills before Trump and Israel started this war. People need to be able to heat their homes tonight, they need hot water and they need to be able to get by day by day. The measures the Government is proposing fall well short of that.”
“On the policy priorities in the Government’s statement of strategy and the priority of children in education, the Taoiseach has told us repeatedly that he is doing everything he can to ensure there is an appropriate school place for every child. Why then does a school that comes forward because it wants to provide additional classes face so many road blocks? I have raised Stapolin Educate Together National School with the Taoiseach before. It is doing its absolute best to provide two badly needed new and additional autism classes but the Department of education has not sanctioned them. There are 50 children on a waiting list who need these additional classes to be provided. These children need the Taoiseach and his Government to step forward and act on this. Why has the Taoiseach not given the go-ahead?”
“Are they invisible to the Taoiseach? Why are there no measures for them? In terms of people who have disabilities, carers and pensioners, why does the Taoiseach think the increases of just a few weeks to the fuel allowance is sufficient? It does not make a dent. A huge number of them were already in arrears before this crisis began. A total of 320,000 households were in arrears. Why is the Government not taking the targeted measures it needs to support them?”
“The Taoiseach can disagree with my assessment all he likes but I was quoting the Parliamentary Budget Office, which is independent. Is the Taoiseach saying he does not accept its independent analysis of the budget? The proposal that we have put forward is fully costed - €362 million. It is targeted and affordable, as the Taoiseach says measures need to be. That would leave plenty of room for further measures later in the year, if, when and as they are required. Why is the Government not adopting our proposal? The Government is doing nothing extra for low-paid workers who do not receive the fuel allowance at all. Does the Taoiseach not see the difficulty they are in? If you are on low pay, do not qualify for the fuel allowance and your home heating oil bill to fill the tank has gone up by 80%, what are you meant to do?”
“The Government's budget reduced the incomes of the poorest households by more than 4% and massively increased poverty rates among elderly people from 13% to 19%. That is not me saying that; that is the Parliamentary Budget Office. The Taoiseach comes into this House today, when people desperately need real support, and all he has to offer them is a measure that excludes hundreds of thousands of households who are drowning in skyrocketing bills. Why are there no targeted supports for low-paid workers? Will the Taoiseach examine the Social Democrats' proposal for a targeted energy credit of €400?”
“This is a targeted and an affordable measure. This would help hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers who do not receive the fuel allowance and it would provide a much greater level of support for pensioners, carers and disabled people. It would not go far enough to cover the spiralling price rises we have seen but it would be a big help and represent meaningful support. The Government has not even bothered examining this proposal, so the Taoiseach is already in here today announcing half measures instead of the comprehensive package that should be introduced. We listen to lectures from the Taoiseach and his Ministers all the time on the importance of targeting supports for those who need them most but there is a huge gap between what they say and what they do.”
“The Government seems to think that it does not have to help because we are now in March, but people must still heat their homes in spring, and there are vulnerable people all over the country who cannot now afford to turn their heating on, including elderly people, sitting in freezing cold homes, whose pensions just will not stretch far enough, disabled people, whose incomes were already cut by €1,400 in the Government's budget, and are making choices between heating and eating, and families at breaking point who do not know how they will be able to keep the lights on. The Social Democrats have repeatedly asked the Government to introduce a targeted €400 energy credit that would be paid to 800,000 households who are struggling the most. The Taoiseach said again that we need targeted and affordable measures.”
“It is nearly a month into this crisis and the Government is finally acting but the measures announced today do not go far enough. A temporary cut to excise duty to provide some relief at the pumps is long overdue but where are the targeted supports for those who need them most? The Government, having spent weeks and weeks reviewing the situation, has come into this House and done the bare minimum. It is extending the fuel allowance for a few weeks but it barely scratches the surface of what is required to support people who are struggling the most. There is almost nothing in this package for low-income households who are reliant on home heating oil and unable to pay the 80% spike in prices.”
“Does the he not recognise that and that every day he delays and every day he makes excuses is pushing people further and further into hardship and poverty? Will measures be brought in on Tuesday? Is the Tánaiste effectively ruling out an energy credit? Do I take that from the Tánaiste's comments? There will be measures brought in on Tuesday. What will those measures be? Will they help the 320,000 households already in electricity arrears? Will they be targeted? The Tánaiste has often said we need to have targeted measures. Will they be targeted at those who need them most? Will there be measures on the excise tax on petrol and diesel?”
“In December there were 320,000 households in arrears on their electricity bills. They need a targeted energy credit and the Tánaiste is saying he cannot do it because we are coming into summer. Is that for real? Then the Tánaiste is saying that he cannot predict the future. We are not asking him to predict the future. We are asking him to recognise the reality people are living in now and that things have been getting worse day after day, and he is delaying on this. Does the Tánaiste not recognise the difficulty individuals and households are in, in that they cannot heat their homes, cannot getting get their home-heating oil tank filled and that they are making decisions as to whether they can put the heating on or go to the supermarket to get the groceries?”
“We need a targeted €400 energy credit, which can immediately be brought in and provided to 800,000 households who are struggling the most, and we need to cut excise duty to reduce prices and ensure the State is not profiting from this crisis. Can the Tánaiste tell people who are watching at home whether he will adopt our proposals and when exactly is he going to take action?”
“The Tánaiste has now said the Government is finalising an appropriate intervention to deal with those struggling with the surge in costs but we must wait until the next Cabinet meeting on Tuesday before that is signed off on. There is no clear indication yet of what those measures will be and exactly when they will be implemented. Where is the recognition of the huge pressure people all over the country are facing right now? Where is the urgency? The Tánaiste could act today, if he wanted to. The Tánaiste could clear the Dáil schedule and get this done, as he did when he had to appoint Ministers. The Tánaiste cleared the Dáil schedule to fill up his ranks. Will the Tánaiste not do it today on this? The Government may not have a plan to help people but the Social Democrats do.”
“People were already struggling to pay sky-high energy costs before these latest price shocks. In December, nearly 320,000 households were in arrears on their electricity bills. That is hundreds of thousands of people all over the country who are already in crisis, for instance, elderly people sitting at home in freezing cold homes because their pensions simply do not stretch far enough, disabled people who are making choices between eating and heating, and parents of young children going into huge debt just to keep a roof over their heads. That was before Trump and Israel launched their illegal war on Iran causing carnage across the whole region and causing economic chaos across the globe.”
“The Government's hands-off approach to the energy crisis is callous and cruel. For weeks now, the Tánaiste has failed to intervene as prices have spiralled. When the Social Democrats asked the Tánaiste to act, he refused. Instead of there being support for people, the Tánaiste has been missing in action. Individuals, families and businesses do not have the luxury of sitting back and monitoring the situation. For them, the impact has been immediate and unavoidable. Petrol and diesel prices are soaring, home-heating oil has shot up by 80% and gas prices are rocketing. These are not abstract fluctuations on international markets. These are astronomical price increases that ordinary people are being forced to pay today and for many, they represent a tipping point.”
“The Government has had plenty of time to put together what it is going to do for the cost-of-living energy crisis we face at the moment. Nothing has come forward. This week the Dáil should be discussing and passing emergency measures to help families and households under huge pressure with rising costs. There is a proposal from the Social Democrats for a €400 targeted energy credit that the Government should be adopting.”
“The Tánaiste saying that the Government will monitor the situation and keep it under review is of no use to them. They need the Government to act now. Will it take action for people who cannot heat their homes because of the electricity arrears they are already in and these huge increases in the past few days?”
“Tá díomá mór orm le freagra an Tánaiste. Tá níos mó agus níos mó daoine nach féidir a gcuid billí a íoc. A total of 320,000 homes are in electricity arrears before these prices increased in the past few days. That is the scale of the problem we are facing in the country. What the Government is doing is not addressing that. With regard to the fines being issued and the CCPC, when was the last time it issued a significant fine to a large company? It has issued small fines to small companies and retailers around price information, but when has it issued fines in the millions of euro for this kind of price-gouging that is going on? When has it taken that kind of action? People are faced now with a serious issue as to how they will heat their homes and where they will get the money to do so.”
“We are now in an extraordinary position where we have a succession of senior Ministers talking about profiteering and accepting that price-gouging is going on but, in the next breath, saying they will not take any meaningful action. A review by the toothless consumer agency is not going to cut it when people have bills to pay today. The Social Democrats have proposed a fully costed, targeted €400 energy credit that would provide some relief to people. The Government has refused to adopt it. Will the Tánaiste now change his position and introduce this measure?”
“We are now told that the Minister, Deputy Burke, is hauling in representatives from energy companies for a meeting. This echoes the infamous supermarket summit in 2023. Back then, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, talked tough about putting manners on supermarket chains. He called a meeting with them and promised that prices would come down. What actually happened? He turned up, wagged his finger and went home. Nothing changed and prices continued to soar. The meeting was nothing more than an exercise in optics, something the Government could say it was doing when, in reality, it was sitting on its hands, just like it is doing today.”
“They do not have a spare €500 sitting in their bank accounts to heat their homes. They are already living day to day, with every cent in their budget accounted for. What they are now seeing is an avalanche of price rises coming towards them on everything from groceries and childcare costs to energy bills, and they get virtually no support from the Government. Instead, all the Government seems to do is introduce measures to push up prices even further and make their lives even harder, such as the recent changes to rents that are causing soaring rent rises in new tenancies. On Tuesday, the Taoiseach was clear that price-gouging is going on. Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, accused companies of profiteering. That is all we get from this Government - empty words and meaningless rhetoric but no action or meaningful support.”
“The war in the Middle East is in its sixth day and the price of oil and gas is continuing to skyrocket. People are now being charged absolutely extortionate prices for home heating oil. The Tánaiste saying he is going to monitor the situation and keep it under review is of absolutely no use to people facing big bills right now. The increases are absolutely outrageous. How are elderly people on pensions supposed to pay these extortionate costs? This includes vulnerable people and those with medical conditions. They need to be able to heat their homes. They will be going cold either because they are rationing their heating or they simply cannot afford to fill their tanks. Families with young children who are already struggling to get by are also feeling rising panic.”
“More than 3,000 people signed a petition calling for two new autism classes in Stapolin Educate Together National School. The Department of Education and Youth said it will sanction these classes in terms of staffing but will not provide any classrooms. There are no spare classrooms in the school. The school needs to be able to provide new classes and modular classrooms if the new autism classes are to open. Will two new additional classrooms be sanctioned? Will he speak to the Minister for Education and Youth about this? Cad é a dhearcadh?”
“How will people paying extortionate rents be able to face those kinds of increases? What will they do? Will the Tánaiste reverse his decision?”
“IRES REIT has been very clear in what it has said on this. It has said it believes its rents are currently about 20% below what it believes should be the market levels and it has said these changes will result in its rental income going up by about 25%. The Tánaiste has not addressed that. Simply saying that not every renter will face this straight away and, when they do face it, the rent can only go up by 2% every year for a few years does not address it. When it balloons by such an amount, how will people be able to cope with that? Does the Tánaiste not understand that if people are already put to the pin of their collar in terms of paying rent and their rent jumps by 20% or 25%, that will push more families, pensioners and children into homelessness? Does the Tánaiste not understand that?”
“Mick Byrne of the UCD school of social policy, whom the Tánaiste has been quoting, said that what the Government is doing is effectively removing rent regulation. The Tánaiste has been selectively quoting what he has been saying on this.”
“Is the Tánaiste so blinded by his craven ideology of giving these corporate landlords whatever they want and ask for that he cannot see the damage he is doing? Renters in Ireland who are already paying some of the highest rents in Europe are now going to be fleeced even more. The Government admitted it got it completely wrong on SNAs. Will the Tánaiste now admit it has got it completely wrong on letting rents rip and reverse its decision on this?”
“This block with 77 apartments was already under construction. IRES REIT is not building anything new or increasing supply. Individuals and families who were hoping to buy one of these apartments and homes when the construction was completed are now being left disappointed. It is doing this because of Government policy. Government refused to ban corporate landlords and investment funds from bulk-buying apartments. Now, by letting rents rip it has opened the flood gates. These corporate landlords are going to snap up more and more homes. People work so hard to support their families and to get a place of their own. Instead of saving to buy a home, they are now handing over their wages to these giant landlords.”
“Will it admit it has got it completely wrong in terms of these changes that are a gift to corporate landlords? To put this in context, IRES REIT made a profit of almost €50 million last year. Does the Tánaiste not understand that the changes are going to cause even more hardship for renters and for families, putting them under more pressure? Does he not understand it will push more and more people into homelessness, that we already have record homelessness, including a record number of homeless children, and, shamefully, a record number of homeless pensioners? This is going to make it even worse. Beidh níos mó agus níos mó daoine gan teach. Earlier this week, the State's biggest landlord, IRES REIT, about which we are talking, announced it was going to buy up an entire apartment block in Naas.”
“Let us be very clear. It is not the Opposition that made the claim that the rental income of IRES REIT is going to go up by 25% as a result of the changes the Government has made. It was IRES REIT that made that claim. Does the Tánaiste accept that? His only defence seems to be that not every renter will be affected immediately. Does he not realise that a 25% increase in someone's rent, whether it is this year, next year or the year after, is completely unmanageable for the vast bulk of renters? How does the Government think people are going to be able to pay this increase? Does it not understand that people are already struggling to make ends meet and to pay their Bills? The Government admitted this week it got it completely wrong on SNAs.”
“It calls for accelerated implementation of the 2023 report of the Irish College of General Practitioners entitled "Medical Student to General Practitioner — An Urgent Call to Action". It calls for the provision of an additional 100 GP training places. Those are urgently needed. It calls for the alignment of the terms and conditions for general practice nurses with those of their HSE colleagues. It calls for an increase in the annual public health nurse training capacity from 160 places to 240 places. Those are the concrete and detailed proposals we have put forward. The Government is not opposing them but the Minister of State has not told us in concrete terms what it is going to do to implement them.”
“It suggests the expansion of locum cover supports and calls for investment in a national GP clinical lead role. It suggests investment in a primary healthcare equity working group and to establish same, with representation from front-line services and patients in deprived areas, similar to the successful Scottish model. It calls for the acceleration of the delivery of HSE-built primary care centres. The Minister of State did reference that part of the motion but did not go into any detail about what extra is being done in that regard. The motion also calls for the development of a national strategy to attract, support and retain future GPs. It calls for students to get increased exposure to general practice in medical schools.”
“The respondent said they will end up back in the accident and emergency department to wait on a trolley or bed for another 56 hours. That is the reality facing people in Ireland because of the chronic lack of investment to improve GP capacity and primary care. There are a number of solutions in the motion that the Minister of State did not address. One of the key measures put forward is the introduction of a salaried GP model so that GPs are directly employed by the HSE. This would remove the burdens of effectively running a small business. The motion calls on the Government to ensure proper cover in rural communities, on offshore islands and in areas of deprivation. It suggests the creation of a DEIS-like scheme for GPs to increase capacity.”
“One respondent said they filled out the survey for their 73-year-old mother who is suffering with chronic illness, such as heart failure and dementia. Two weeks ago, the respondent said, they found her crawling out of her room on her hands and knees because she had fallen and could not get herself up. When the respondent rang the mother's GP to ask for an appointment to get her referred to age-related care for physiotherapy and walking-aid assessment, the appointment given was for 18 March. The respondent rang on 13 February and the appointment given was for 18 March. The respondent's mother was recently discharged from her heart failure unit to GP care. If she has a future heart failure episode, she is meant to wait for five weeks for GP assessment to refer her back in.”