Fianna Fail/Fine Gael new political promises – not credible, given severe damage inflicted on Public Health Service by these parties since crisis of 2008
Solidarity- People Before Profit TDs to question government on lack of capacity and planning in health service, the Nursing Home fiasco and upholding workers rights in Covid 19 emergency
At a media conference this morning on the Dáil plinth members of the Solidarity- People Before Profit grouping outlined the questions, they would be raising during the Dáil sitting today.
TDs Richard Boyd Barrett, Bríd Smith and Paul Murphy attended the media event.
The TDs will focus on the lack of capacity and planning in public health service, the nursing homes scandal, the abuse by some employers of workers and of the Wages Subsidy scheme and the need for the public service and state to control key services and sectors to deal with the pandemic.
Richard Boyd Barrett TD said: “Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil seem to think the current public health emergency gives them the divine right to waltz back into government. In fact, the severe damage inflicted on the public health service by these two parties since the crisis of 2008, has reduced its capacity to dangerously low levels before Covid hit us and is precisely the reason we need an alternative to them.
“Their addiction to austerity and privatisation, in our view, has significantly contributed to the tragic failure now apparent in nursing homes and the unacceptable situation where 600 private consultants are holding the government to ransom.
“Their policies have also produced the incredible situation where we have one of the largest pharmaceutical industries in the world, yet we have suffered chronic shortage of PPE and chemical reagents for testing. We heard the same promises of radical change after the 2008 crisis but those promises came to nothing and our public health services were massively undermined.”
Bríd Smith TD said: “The crisis that is being witnessed in our nursing homes must become the highest priority for the government, who in my opinion, have totally mismanaged the nursing home situation. Staffing levels with the necessary medical skills, PPE and testing of staff and residents returning from acute hospital settings are all issue that the government must address without any further delay.
“The decision not to test staff and residents in homes from early in this crisis has turned out to be a catastrophic failure as has the emphasis and reliance on a privatised system of care across the sector”
Paul Murphy TD said:
“The government has brought in dramatic powers to restrict individuals and set up roadblocks and other checks to enforce them. However, it is scandalous that there is still no inspections of factories and call centres. The Health and Safety Authority have indicated that they have been given no power to enforce the HSE guidelines. They can be given the relevant power with the stroke of a Minister’s pen, and we will be pushing that it is done immediately.”
