Richard Boyd Barrett: Austerity Blamed for Health Crisis

On behalf of People Before Profit, I want to extend my deepest sympathies to the families and friends of people who've lost loved ones to COVID-19. I want to pay tribute to the millions of people who, through their sacrifice and effort in physical distancing, have substantially impacted on the transmission of COVID-19 to protect the ability of our health services to cope. And most of all, I want to pay tribute to our frontline health workers and other essential workers who are protecting us and keeping us going. And as Deputy Kelly said, we have also for a number of weeks called, and I call on the Taoiseach again in the government, to give specific reward or hazard payments to frontline health workers and essential workers who are risking their own health on all of our behalves at the moment. I think that's the least that we could do for them. I welcome the fact that the government have accepted the need to answer questions, notwithstanding some, I thought, fairly disingenuous condemnations of those of us who thought it was important that this doll would sit and that ministers would be subject to questioning the last time we were here. On to my questions, Taoiseach. First of all, a political one. How do Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael believe that they are fitted to return to power or that we should believe their promises of a new political departure when, after the last financial crisis of 2008, they made the same promises and then proceeded to absolutely savage the staffing levels of staffing levels and capacity levels of our health service prior to this public health emergency. To the point where we have some of the lowest levels of ICU capacity, GP cover and staffing levels, hospital bed numbers in the whole of the Western world. Isn't it the case, Taoiseach, that the privatisation and austerity policies that were pursued for the last ten years by these parties have contributed to the emergency that is now emerging, tragic emergency emerging in our nursing homes because of a largely privatised, completely fragmented, under-resourced, under-supported, nursing home sector. Isn't it, Taoiseach, unacceptable but a legacy of the policies and priorities of those two parties that 600 private consultants can hold this country over a barrel in the face of a public health emergency? It is absolutely shocking. It is absolutely shocking. Can you please explain to me the incredible situation where this country has one of the biggest pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries in the world and yet we are suffering chronic shortages of personal protection equipment, vital medical equipment and chemical reagents necessary to bring the level of testing up to that which we need. We need to exit this crisis. And where Paul Reid cites proprietorial issues as an explanation for this. In layman's terms, that means private patents and profit seeking by the companies that own these patents for chemical reagents. Can the Taoiseach explain why a private consultant with no medical expertise whatsoever was given the job of recruiting from the 70,000 heroic volunteers on the call for Ireland to recruit those people and integrate them into the health service? A job, from what I look at the numbers, doesn't look to be going too well in that integration. CPL. CPL. Can the Minister explain the extraordinary appointment of a management consultant from an accountancy firm, Ernst & Young, to spearhead the ramping up of the testing and contact tracing regime, which we desperately need, rather than public health experts, scientists and medics and that that same person has now been given the job to spearhead the transition back to, quote, business as usual, rather than the public health experts, the scientists and the doctors who should be deciding when we lift restrictions, how we lift restrictions, how we transition back to the normality that our citizens desperately want to return to. The new normal. Because those sorts of appointments suggest nothing has changed. Nothing has changed in the approach. Which should, this crisis should lead us on to a recognition that we have to radically depart from the policies of privatisation, of profit first, of commercial interests first, that have left our health service completely under resourced and under capacity in the face of this crisis. Where only heroic health workers and the efforts of our population are saving us from utter calamity. So I conclude on that, Count Ciorla. My colleagues Deputy Murphy and Deputy Smith will have more detailed questions. But those are serious questions I put seriously to the government and I look forward to getting actual answers, which we have not got for the last four to six weeks in the face of this emergency. We move next to an emergency.