Ivana Bacik
Dublin Bay South · Labour Party · Ireland
“Just today I and other local representatives got an email from the owner of two restaurants in Dublin city centre about this issue. The Minister of State’s brief includes not only the circular economy but also small business.”
“The Bill Deputy Sherlock and the Labour Party are proposing is not one we suggest is a silver bullet or a panacea but it offers one small, constructive mechanism to address the dysfunction in waste services.”
“In Dublin Bay South we have superb Tidy Towns organisations that I am proud to work with from Ringsend and Sandymount across to Portobello in my area to Rathgar, Rathmines, Terenure, Donnybrook and Ballsbridge. We see really important work being done by Tidy Towns organisations.”
“The owner says he no longer has space to accommodate additional recycling bins, cannot leave recyclable waste out for collection and cannot leave flattened cardboard outside for collection. Private waste companies must send a vehicle to collect this directly from premises. This is costly, inefficient and unnecessary.”
“I do not mean just in Dublin, though Deputy Sherlock and I are focusing on Dublin and most of the TDs present are Dublin ones, as clearly this has ramifications across the country and the dissatisfaction and the concerns Deputy Sherlock’s constituents and mine are expressing are ones felt across the board.”
“We want to see a move, as Deputy Sherlock has it in the Bill, from competition in the market to competition for the market and this Bill would represent an important positive step on that journey to quality public services provided by the State and to remunicipalisation. Deputy Sherlock has set out the detailed provisions in the Bill.”
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“I want to pay tribute to the family of Martin Lynn, the young man killed in an unprovoked one-punch attack outside his Dublin home in 2023. His sister Sharon Lynn expressed her disappointment at the weekend after the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, chose not to appeal his killer's sentence for manslaughter. I have met with Sharon, along with my colleagues Deputies George Lawlor and Robert O'Donoghue. We met with Sharon and her partner Anthony, and we want to reissue our sincere condolences to them on their loss. Commendably, Sharon has said she wants to go on now to advocate for sentencing reform to help others. Victims and survivors of violent crime deserve transparency in sentencing.”
“Very briefly, and I appreciate that a Cheann Comhairle. On behalf of the Labour Party, I want to express our sincere thanks to you, Mick, for all of the immense work and all the great service you have given. We wish you the very best of luck for the future and wish your family all the very best of luck too. Go raibh maith agat.”
“"A preliminary national register of derelict properties will be published in 2027, with the tax starting soon after." That is all the Government can commit to on its own website. The Government has flagged this many times as the key measure it is introducing to tackle vacancy and dereliction. I think the Taoiseach agrees this is a scourge across the community. It is particularly a scourge where the buildings and sites are publicly owned - that is indefensible - but on the Government's own measures, there is no sense of urgency to bringing them in.”
“I know they say attack is the best form of defence, so it is no surprise the Taoiseach chose to go on the attack and to mount an attack on the Labour Party, because he knows that Government policy on vacancy and dereliction is indefensible. He simply has no defence. It has patently failed. It is not just about publicly owned buildings. The Taoiseach and the Government have effectively conceded that the current system, including the derelict sites levy and the derelict sites register, is ineffective. I am looking at the Government's own up-to-date website, which promises to introduce a new derelict property tax. That is an initiative we supported. What are we seeing on the Government's own website?”
“When will the Taoiseach confront the epidemic of vacancy and dereliction, particularly in State-owned properties? When will he lead a co-ordinated national effort to deliver the homes people need?”
“In my constituency, Dublin Bay South, just a few hundred metres from here, the Baggot Street hospital still lies empty, an eyesore reminding us of the continued vacancy and dereliction crisis ravaging Irish towns and cities. Over the past four years, I have called for it to be used as accommodation for refugees or healthcare workers or, indeed, for it to be converted into homes by the Land Development Agency, LDA. However, the LDA tells me it has not even been offered the site by the HSE and now the HSE is putting a portion of it on the private market, with apparently no consideration of the public good. It is not just the HSE, as I say. Across the State, public bodies are sitting on properties that could be transformed into safe and secure accommodation and homes. There is a human cost to vacancy.”
“He tells me he saw the one-bedroom apartment he viewed for sale reappear months later on daft.ie for rent, having been snapped up by institutional investors. That is a pattern we are seeing. Yet, the HSE continues to give a bureaucratic shrug in the face of this national crisis. This cavalier approach, and it is not just the HSE, reflects something deeper, a Government dodging delivery. I looked back at the Taoiseach's response to me in 2023 on this question. In his reply, he told me to "get on to Dublin City Council". What a dismissive attitude to the issue of State-owned properties gathering dust while people are sleeping in doorways.”
“In Monday's edition of the Irish Independent , it was reported the HSE still owns nearly 200 vacant properties, more than half of which are officially marked as surplus to requirement. These buildings were supposed to be converted into homes for people and families under the Government's last failed housing plan. Why has so little happened? The housing crisis is at emergency levels. Thousands of children are doing their homework in emergency accommodation. Our streets today are peppered with drenched sleeping bags, abandoned by people sleeping rough who have had to flee from the rain. People on good wages, like the man my office has been helping recently, are giving up hope of ever buying a home.”
“On 4 October 2023, more than two years ago, I stood here and raised the disgraceful revelations that the HSE was sitting on a massive portfolio of vacant properties. Over 200 HSE-owned buildings and sites lay idle while the housing crisis tightened its grip on families. Back then, nearly 4,000 children were homeless and average rents for new tenancies stood at €1,590. Today, two years on, more than 5,000 children are without a home and rents for new tenancies have shot up to more than €1,700, and that is before the Government's so-called rent reforms come in. In the two years since the HSE was caught sitting on sites that could be turned into homes, Ireland's housing crisis has become ever more dire. What did we learn just two days ago?”
“There is a 2024 recommendation from the joint committee on social protection to treat all care-related credited contributions as the same value as paid contributions in the context of pension eligibility. The Minister is here with the Taoiseach. I am looking for a response, if not immediately then perhaps from the Minister in writing. I will forward the specific query, which is an important one for carers.”
“Carers do incredible work out of love and in service to our State, but they continue to face penalties despite the invaluable work they do. I have heard heartbreaking testimony from carers across the State, overwhelmingly women, who are now living on the bread line after providing years of unpaid care. I want to raise a specific issue, namely pensions. I have heard from women carers who stepped outside the paid workforce to carry out care. They feel hoodwinked now because nobody explained to them their care-related credited contributions would not qualify for the contributory State pension. Having missed out on a salary during the period of care, they have also forfeited a pension.”
“Last night viewers of “Prime Time” will have been moved by the renter, Aoife McGrath, who broke down telling the story about how she had received her third no-fault eviction notice in four years and is now in her 30s desperately seeking somewhere to live. These stories are not unique. We hear them all the time from our own constituents, from people desperately trying to find somewhere to rent. These so-called rental reforms in fact will create different classes of renters and will diminish protections for many. They lack coherence, as indeed does the Government's housing policy. When will we see real protection for renters and real delivery of homes at scale?”
“I thank the Taoiseach for his kind words about the late Brian O’Shea. That is appreciated. I did have to laugh when the Taoiseach used the word “incoherent” about my contribution. It is his housing policy that is incoherent. It is his measures on renters that are incoherent. Let me give him two examples. In Galway this week, with our Councillor Helen Ogbu, I heard about students renting Monday to Friday in Galway city who have to move all their possessions out of their apartments on a Friday, so that their landlord can rent out the apartment on Airbnb for the weekend. Where is the coherence in that for renters?”
“Councils are increasingly taking enforcement action against developers who are breaching their legal duty to build social and affordable homes. The Taoiseach knows the Labour Party has proposed transforming the Land Development Agency into a State construction company to ensure the State can build directly for the benefit of everyone. The notion of such an initiative seems to incense the Taoiseach. Instead, his policy relies almost exclusively on private developers for the delivery of social homes. This has been expensive, inefficient and ignored. When will the Taoiseach admit that his policies on housing are failing? Will he shelve these new plans for renters and bring in real protections and real commitments for state-led delivery?”
“The Taoiseach must know this will not work. His assurances collapse under your assurances collapse under scrutiny. The proof is in the pudding and the Taoiseach’s housing pudding is inedible. Take the tenant in situ scheme. This was supposed to keep renters out of homelessness when their landlord sells but last year in the face of stalling sales under tenant in situ, the Taoiseach insisted to me that the scheme was working as planned. Now, we learn that Dublin City Council purchases under the scheme have collapsed by 70%. Just 77 homes were bought in a year. Eviction notices are landing in people's postboxes with no safety net for families. "Working as planned" really means working for nobody. We see the same pattern in social housing.”
“Nationwide rent pressure zones sound meaningful until you read the small print. Allowing landlords to reset rents to so-called market value between tenancies will rip up those vital protections altogether. Effectively, it is rewarding eviction. The Government’s plans are not completely meritless – we acknowledge that. It is positive to see six-year tenancies and restrictions on evictions by large landlords. Linking rent increases to inflation is better than the chaos renters face now. However, we can do so much more and we must do so much more for renters. The Labour Party believes renters deserve a freeze now to give real breathing space while prices spiral. We know the modest positive gains are overwhelmed in this Bill and by Government policy by a plan that tries to fix market failure with yet more marketisation.”
“At the outset, I want to acknowledge the death of former Minister of State and Labour TD for Waterford, Brian O’Shea. My condolences and those of the Labour Party are with his wife, Eileen, their family and with his community. Let us talk about the Taoiseach’s so-called reforms to the rental sector. He has billed the Residential Tenancies Board amendment Bill as a reset of rental protections but in reality, it is yet another chaotic intervention – the seventh rewrite of rental rules in a decade. That fact alone tells a story of its own because the relentless churn deepens instability, turbocharges rents and creates new legal loopholes and uncertainties. The Taoiseach is dressing deregulation up as reform but creating a system so opaque that nobody understands their rights.”
“Our thanks go to front-line workers fixing the mess. What does the Government have to offer households which will be struggling to meet their bills and to cope with the storm’s impact? What urgent support can be given to restore amenities, being conscious that local authorities have seen staff numbers falling and therefore have a shortage of staff to deal with the fallout?”
“I want to raise the emergency affecting communities across this island as a result of the fallout from Storm Chandra. A friend sent a photo of a woman's car floating in her driveway in south Dublin. Enniscorthy looks like a lake and the M50 was closed due to flooding earlier. There are power cuts, battered homes, stalled commutes and flooded homes. It is nearly a week to the day since the Government voted down a Labour Party motion on flexible and remote work, one that put forward practical ways of addressing the real difficulties so many people face due to congestion on our roads. Those difficulties were absolutely exacerbated today due to weather. People who are sleeping rough and in tents due to failures in housing are particularly vulnerable in storms and, of course, it is a year since the devastation of Storm Éowyn.”
“I say again let us have an immediate freeze on the use of scramblers in any public spaces while we ensure there is a robust enforcement mechanism in place. Clearly, it is not in place now and we are all seeing it. I have given that one example of the code of practice on drone usage. There is one very practical thing that can and should be done urgently. What about mass confiscations of vehicles that do not meet regulations?”
“I welcome the Taoiseach's commitment to taking urgent action to remove scramblers from our roads and to address illegal usage of e-scooters and quads, but we need action. I am grateful to my colleagues, Deputies Sherlock and Ahern, who point out practical things that could be done now. We were promised 150 additional road traffic gardaí. Let us see those gardaí in place because this is about enforcement. Let us the see the sort of actions that have been taken elsewhere. In Manchester, drone units have been deployed to track illegal use of scramblers. In the Netherlands, authorities are seizing imported vehicles that do not meet regulations. I have spoken about, and we all know about, e-scooters that are modified so that they break speed limits that have been set in law. This is about enforcement.”
“We welcome new Garda powers but we need to see more. Four years on, the specialist Garda drone unit set up to tackle scramblers is still not being used due to delays in establishing a clear legal framework. The Minister for justice has said work is ongoing on a code of practice for using the drones but we need far greater urgency. The Minister of State with responsibility for road safety, speaking on the radio this morning, gave little reassurance and no sense of urgency. How will the Government move beyond sympathy and robust words? What action will it take to remove scramblers from our streets and public spaces? Will it consider an immediate freeze on the use of all scrambler bikes until the necessary enforcement mechanisms - robust enforcement mechanisms - are put in place urgently?”
“Families are burying their children. We need to band together on this in this House. Let us resolve to expedite the solution. The Taoiseach will have Labour’s full support in facilitating any necessary law or policy change to address this scourge but we have to see urgent action from him. Scramblers are not toys; they are powerful machines. They are being used to intimidate on our streets. They are lethal weapons. They are often unregistered and used illegally by inexperienced riders in public spaces, parks, estates and streets. They are sitting in storage right now around the country, being sold and loaned out by individuals who know they will be misused. Some are adapted to break speed limits, endangering not just the riders, but everyone around them. We need enforcement that is visible, consistent and effective.”
“I know we are all conscious the criminal justice process must be allowed to take its course but the misuse of scramblers, quad bikes and e-scooters is a nationwide problem, a scourge across so many communities. We have seen a failure of enforcement, a failure of regulation, a failure of political will and a lack of urgency from Government in tackling this. I welcome the Taoiseach's robust comments that our roads must be safe and that everything must be done to remove scramblers from our roads but we need action. This is not a new issue. The catastrophic injuries caused to Ilabek Avetian by a scrambler bike in a Dublin park back in 2018 should have been the wake-up call. It is not just scramblers; we know that e-scooter-related brain injuries now account for over a quarter of paediatric neurosurgical admissions in Temple Street hospital.”
“I express my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Grace Lynch, the 16-year-old girl who tragically died, killed in that horrific scrambler collision on Sunday. We have all seen the heartbreaking footage of Grace's mother Siobhán addressing a vigil last night as she described the unimaginable pain of watching her young daughter take her last breath. I pay tribute to Siobhán Lynch for showing such courage in the face of such outright grief and for calling for changes to the law so that no other family has to endure that trauma. As a parent, I can only imagine the horror of their ordeal on losing their beautiful daughter in this way. It is not just Finglas; the entire country is shaken by Grace's death.”
“Domestic violence kills. We have seen far too many women killed in the context of their homes and their intimate relationships, by abusive partners. Since 2021, more than half of all murders in Ireland have had a domestic violence motivation. This is chilling.”
“I thank the Taoiseach for his response. There is one very practical measure that Women's Aid has recommended could and should be adopted by An Garda Síochána immediately following this very disturbing case. There needs to be clear guidelines on how to the Garda addresses a situation where a report of violence is made against a serving garda. These guidelines need to be easily accessible to the public, so that victims or survivors can be reassured and are not deterred from coming forward. In particular, they must be reassured that complaints will be dealt with seriously and expeditiously because, as the Taoiseach rightly says, the length of time in this case is a matter of particular concern. Speaking more generally, we do know that, as I said, this is one incident in what is an absolute scourge of violent incidents against women.”
“The public body, the service that is primarily tasked with tackling it, in some cases, is quietly facilitating those who perpetrate it. Zero tolerance cannot be an effective slogan if violent men are tolerated within our policing system or within our security apparatus. It is a real concern too within the Defence Forces. We have seen that exposed by the Women of Honour and Natasha O'Brien. Margaret Loftus needs to be given reassurance. She has said she will handcuff herself to the gates of Leinster House if nothing is done to address a culture that may include cover-up. Will the Taoiseach confirm to her that neither the Garda nor the Defence Forces will tolerate the accommodation of abusers within their ranks?”
“That fear is reinforced by sources which report that other gardaí convicted of similar assaults remained in service - a horrendous precedent. What was the collective response of An Garda Síochána to these troubling revelations? It seems its first response was to launch an investigation into Conor Lally, the journalist who first exposed this story five years ago. That is shameful. Stories like this make it unsurprising that the Garda Inspectorate has found that half of domestic abuse victims were dissatisfied with their experience of making a report to the police. We know that incidents of gender-based violence and domestic violence are lived, endured and survived by women in this country every day. Tragically, sometimes women do not survive these incidents. Violence against women is an epidemic of shocking proportions.”
“Over some years I was proud to work with other women Senators and TDs, with Women's Aid, Safe Ireland and others, to introduce the offence of coercive control into our law. Because violence in intimate settings is rarely one single blow, we know that it tends to constitute patterns of domination, fear and control. Margaret Loftus believes that An Garda Síochána closed ranks around her abuser for a long time. After she reported him, she was met initially with silence. He got a promotion. He was even issued a firearm. She has said her long pursuit of justice was as traumatising and damaging as the abuse itself. Sadly, that is the experience of many survivors. Margaret Loftus now fears that he may not even lose his Garda uniform.”
“Today, I want to raise a single issue: the harrowing case of former Garda, Margaret Loftus. I commend her on her immense courage in coming forward to speak publicly about her experience. Speaking on RTÉ's "Prime Time" last night, she described years of torture at the hands of her ex-husband, Garda Trevor Bolger. Last week, his three-month sentence for assault was suspended following his guilty plea to a low-end charge. Margaret Loftus described compellingly how her ex-husband exerted control over her right up to sentencing, even censoring her victim impact statement. Her allegations that he had previously made threats to kill and that he exerted coercive control were never tested in court.”
“We need to see these addressed and the Government taking a proactive step on investing in cycling infrastructure, active travel and public transport so people have genuine alternatives to the private car and we can address the reality for commuters and others across the country, including in my constituency, who are now facing the awful impacts of gridlock, congestion, poor air quality and climate emissions. We need action from the Government on this, not the pathetic counter-motion.”
“It would make a real difference to emissions and air quality and provide people with more time for family, caring and community. It would provide people with disabilities with greater access to workplaces. It is deeply disappointing, therefore, that the Minister of State has not seen fit to address this. My colleagues have spoken about the reality of congestion. Dublin is now one of the most congested cities in Europe. All of us listen to reports of congestion at Bóthar na dTreabh, the Dunkettle Interchange, Johnstown Road and all of the other places where there have been particular issues with congestion.”
“I commend my colleagues Deputies Mark Wall and Ciarán Ahern for proposing this important motion. The Government’s counter-motion is deeply disappointing. It does not mention at all the crucial issue of the right to flexible work, which is very disappointing. The motion proposes a series of practical short- and longer-term measures that could and should be adopted by the Government to ensure better quality of life for workers, families and communities. It would also help our planet because it also emphasises the need for climate action. Giving people a real right to flexible and remote work is climate action. It is action that would have a genuine impact for so many people now stuck in road gridlock and congestion.”
“We have a motion tomorrow and I ask the Government not to oppose it and to enable it to be passed. It seeks a real right to flexible and remote work for workers. It looks for the public sector to lead by example and to ensure that people are not forced back unnecessarily into the office where they can work productively from home.”
“Tomorrow morning, Labour will bring forward a motion in the Dáil on flexible and remote work: a practical response to the daily pressures working people face. We are asking the Government to support this motion and enable it to be passed tomorrow. We need to see practical steps taken to support workers' rights. Unfortunately, what we have seen from the Government has been a general approach of words not deeds. We have seen sympathy but no delivery. We have heard sympathetic words in response to our Bill on leave for women who endure miscarriage or early pregnancy loss, on protections for SNAs who are injured in schools, and on rights for gig economy drivers.”
“We must see a robust response to Trump to stand up to what is really a creeping fascism. We are seeing in his own country armed militias seizing people and shooting people and we are now also seeing the threat of annexation and the seizure of a leader in Venezuela against international law. This is appalling to see. I want to make one specific, practical ask. Last year, on so-called "liberation day" the Taoiseach and Tánaiste very helpfully provided briefings to Opposition leaders on the Trump threat.”
“I do not appreciate taking lectures on the budget from the party that brought in the tax break for the burger barons and big builders. The Labour Party stood against the narrowing go the tax base. I do agree with the Taoiseach on European solidarity, absolutely. Between them, Putin and Trump have made the unthinkable normal now. They are normalising this hideous threat of annexation and the hideous threat of trade wars that are going damage us all. As my colleague Deputy Lawlor pointed out, there are huge implications for Ireland, by the way, if Trump is threatening military action in Europe and using Shannon Airport for US planes. That is a huge question for us. We absolutely need European solidarity. We need to stand together on this and the European Union must use every lever at its disposal.”
“Irish society is generally cash rich but asset poor with weak infrastructure, unaffordable housing, overstretched public transport and creaking healthcare. When the shock hits, these failures become dangerous. That is why the risk of a global Trump slump matters so much here at home. Fear alone is already destabilising investment decisions across Ireland and Europe. We know the EU must respond robustly and strategically to Trump's threats, but we must also work here at home to control the controllables and protect people. Labour has argued for a State-backed short-time working scheme to protect families and households against this potential shock. Will the Taoiseach consider this now and will he respond to Trump's tantrums with real action and a robust responses?”
“We all know how exposed our public finances are due to our disproportionate over-reliance on corporation tax from a small number of large US multinationals. Behind every export figure are workers, families, mortgages, rents and household bills that have to be paid. A great many people and households across the country are already living payslip to payslip in a cost-of-living crisis. The question we are hearing from people is: what happens if the work dries up? The uncomfortable truth is that this vulnerability to a global slump is no accident. It reflects choices made by the Government parties over many years. First is its failure to diversify our economic base, as the unions have pointed out. Second is its failure to use a historic boom to build resilience.”
“We know the enormous threat to Europe posed from the east by Putin's barbaric authoritarian regime in Russia, but now we are seeing a threat of annexation of European territory from the west, from our so-called ally in the US. Trump is ripping up the rulebook when it comes to international diplomacy. After just a year in office, the uncertainty he is causing is doing enormous damage with his territory grabs, his tariffs and now the real likelihood of a Trump slump. Today I ask the Taoiseach about the potential impact of such a slump on Ireland and what we can do about it. Economic shocks do not just impact spreadsheets nationally. They hit kitchen cupboards, homes and communities across the country. When governments fail to prepare, ordinary people pay the price for failure.”
“Last Tuesday, I raised with the Taoiseach the serious threat posed by US President Trump to Europe and to international law with his proposed annexation of Greenland. Over the weekend we have seen the threats from Trump become ever more serious. He has ratcheted up his language. He is essentially looking to blackmail his European allies with yet more tariffs. With these latest Oval Office outbursts, we are seeing dysfunction in D.C. wreaking havoc across the world. This is cause for huge concern. Not content with tanking his own country's economy, Trump's actions seem set on everyone else's too. Following his perceived Nobel Peace Prize snub, he has publicly acknowledged that his sights are set on imperialist action.”
“For all sorts of reasons, including climate action and public health reasons, this would be positive. It would also be positive in tackling traffic congestion and the proliferation of private vehicles on our streets. During the term of the last Government, the Green Party made a commitment to ensure proper investment in cycling. Will the current Government tackle the negative narrative around cycling and invest in cycling infrastructure?”
“I was deeply dismayed by the negative remarks about cyclists made by Judge James O'Donohoe. My colleague Deputy Ciarán Ahern has submitted a formal complaint to the Judicial Council and I note that many judges have expressed criticism. Some judges even cycle, as many of us in the Oireachtas do. Unfortunately, the comments generated a great deal of negativity. We have seen some scapegoating of cyclists in public discourse. It was appalling to see the Irish Road Haulage Association use the opportunity to punch down on cyclists this week. Fourteen cyclists were killed on our roads last year and 45 were killed in the past five years. Cyclists are vulnerable road users. We, as a country, should be encouraging more people to cycle and promoting cycling as a safe option.”
“That number rose by more than 25% last year. By any measure, the 2025 waiting list action plan failed. Meanwhile, we are hearing advertisements from private hospitals like Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast. That is no way to run a healthcare service, to see private hospitals from other jurisdictions touting for business in this way.”
“Try as the Taoiseach may to dissemble them, the figures do not lie. They point to failure and are indefensible, and I stand over the comment of "shambolic". Anyone watching the news last night will have seen shambolic overcrowding and anyone watching or hearing of the experiences of the patient I referenced, or other patients whom we all know, will know that, while there is of course progress being made in some areas and that is great to see, it is still shambolic for all too many patients and they are still waiting too long. The Taoiseach talked about waiting times. Of course, that is crucial and the Taoiseach's own plan set a relatively modest target, that 90% of outpatients would wait less than a year by the end of 2025, but that target was missed. Look at the number waiting more than 18 months for an inpatient appointment.”
“The public has gone past the point of shock when it comes to our shambolic health system. Ask anyone how they think the system is performing and they will say they have no faith in the plans coming out of the Department of Health. They will shake their heads and roll their eyes if asked. The problem is that when failure is normalised, accountability disappears. Therefore, I am asking the Taoiseach to take responsibility and answer some straightforward questions. Why has a €420 million waiting list action plan failed to deliver on its minimal targets? Why is the 2026 service plan retreating on bed capacity? What changes will we see to ensure improvement this year?”
“There is nothing normal about a modern hospital being unable to treat the sick because of capacity constraints, and capacity is at the heart of this crisis. The problem is not a lack of money; it is a lack of urgency. There is not a lack of plans - we are seeing lots of plans - but a lack of delivery. The HSE national service plan for this year proposes just 134 additional hospital beds. That compares with the 297 beds committed to last year, a target that was missed. Two thirds of our hospitals are operating with unsafe bed occupancy levels and this lack of capacity has real consequences for real people, with overcrowded departments, cancelled procedures, exhausted staff and patients left waiting far too long for care they need. This is not a surprise. Capacity constraints and chronic understaffing are well known.”
“Nearly one in six adults waiting for outpatient care has languished on a waiting list for more than a year. For children, it is even worse, with more than 17% waiting more than 12 months. It is not just outpatient care either. We learned this week that several children with mental health or developmental difficulties had been left waiting up to, or even in excess of, 11 years for a psychology assessment. As waits get longer, patients get sicker, our emergency departments get more and more crowded and our healthcare staff burn out. We all hear about it every day. Over the weekend, for example, we heard of a stroke victim in her 90s who spent hours on a trolley in the corridor of a Dublin hospital. Her family was unable to contact her or anyone who could reassure them or give an update. That is unacceptable.”
“Unfortunately, long waits for basic healthcare are now the norm. That should trouble the Taoiseach, especially as a former Minister for health. Waiting lists are no longer a backlog - they are the system. Ireland has become a country of waiting lists, a nation where a health challenge is all too often met with a letter and not with the necessary care. The new figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, are stark. We know from these that 900,000 people are waiting for outpatient care or an operation. This is a crisis unfolding on the Taoiseach's watch. The Government's Waiting List Action Plan 2025 has patently not worked. The number of people waiting more than six months has increased by 12% in just one year. That is a stunning figure.”