Gino Kenny: Says Budget Fails Ireland's Health Workers
Gino Kenny criticised the budget's treatment of public health and mental health, saying it fails to deliver the transformative change working people expect. He argued the pandemic exposed inequalities in the health service, worsened waiting lists and left health workers without a meaningful dividend from the budget.
Health service critique
He said the health service is excellent when people can access it but fundamentally unequal when many cannot enter care, and that the pandemic made longstanding access problems intolerable.
ICU capacity shortfall
He highlighted ICU capacity concerns, citing the minister's figures of only 19 extra ICU beds versus a suggested need of up to 446. He warned that at the current rate of 19 additional beds per year it would take another 14 years to reach comparable OECD per-capita levels.
Mental health funding gap
He noted mental health currently receives about 5% of overall health spending and argued it must rise to 12% to meet demand. He warned the shortfall creates dangerous delays in intervention and said people will die because they can't get intervention at the critical time.
Waiting lists and treatment delays
He criticised long waiting lists and years-long waits for surgical procedures, contrasting those delays with much shorter waits in mainland Europe and calling the situation unacceptable for patients and workers alike.
Budget assessment and political consequences
He described the budget as neither transformative nor radical, characterising it as more of the same neoliberal approach that leaves services to the market. He noted voters had sought change on public services at the general election and said political will is required to deliver meaningful reform.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Thank you. Thanks, Chair. Minister, I want to start off on a positive note and a realistic note. The last 18 months have been pretty horrific for working people in this state. What the pandemic has shown is that ordinary working people keep everything functional, whether that's bringing us to work, looking after us in our hospital. And what them working people want is a dividend, not just on a personal note, but also a societal note, because that's what budgets are. They're a collective action to better everybody else. And I think the pandemic has changed a lot of things. It was a traumatic event. And after any traumatic event, people want something different. And what was tolerated before will not be tolerated again. And what was accepted before won't be accepted again. So, I think one of the things that come out of the last 18 months, and we're not far from over it, is that the health service in this country is fantastic. It is fantastic when you enter it. But if you can't enter it, there is a sense of unequalness. And that kind of stems back historical, long time. And that goes back, yeah, period, decades. And even going back to the general election, the general election was about one thing. It was about public services and people not getting them. So our health service has to be transformative. It has to be equal. And it has to be accessible for everybody, regardless of if you're a millionaire around social welfare. But, you know, another aspect of the pandemic was ICU capacity. I mean, Ireland has one of the lowest in the world in relation to ICU beds. And the Minister announced that there were only 19 extra ICU beds compared to where we should be. And the Minister said that we should have up to 446. But obviously, that's not going to happen. That's not going to be, that's not going to be, that's not going to happen. If we continue 19 extra beds per year, it'll take another 14 years to get up to the, up to the OECD levels of per capita. That's not acceptable. So, again, on mental health, Minister, and I understand your statement today was quite positive, you know, in relation to the suite of issues that it's trying to address. And like that, that's a very, very good thing. But again, it's the overall spend. Again, this is a historical legacy. At the moment, we only spend 5% on mental health in our overall budget, but we need to get to 12%. So there's a huge, huge gap. And that huge gap is not just in numbers. There is a kind of a shortage of when people need intervention at that particular time. And that is, you know, that's the reality. People will die because they can't get intervention at that particular time. So we need to address the overall budget in relation to getting to 12%. Now, that is, that takes political will, that takes finances and so forth. And, you know, hopefully that can be done. Just in relation to the waiting lists, and I know the Minister said he will address it. Hopefully he does. I don't want to be bipartisan in this kind of things. I think it's important that, you know, political action is taken and people are accountable because we're all elected here by people. The people of Ireland, the people of Ireland to, you know, do our best, but also to address some of the issues, the big, big issues that I've just said. And one of them big, big issues coming from the pandemic is our health service. And, you know, the kind of times that we all, well, not all of us, but people have to rely on public health, have to rely on waiting times and surgical procedures. That's just not acceptable whatsoever. Just not acceptable that people have to wait years for procedures. I mean, if you go to mainland Europe or other countries, you only have to wait a fraction of that time. So that's just not acceptable. So, you know, what then workers that have, and then health workers that endured, then pretty, pretty awful 18 months, is a budget that was, you know, transformative. It was radical. But unfortunately, Minister, I don't think this budget was transformative. It was certainly not radical. It was probably more of the same. But there's a price to be paid. There's a price to be paid continuing the same kind of neoliberal philosophy, you know, leaving it to the market and leaving it to a health service. There is a, there is a price. And that price sometimes is when people get on the street or when they sack anybody that doesn't do their work here. And again, Minister, going back to the general election in 2020, which seems like an eternity, people voted for change. They voted for something very, very different from what it was. Not the same policy all the time. And that's what, you know, this, unfortunately, this budget is, it is the same. It's not transformative and certainly not radical. Thank you.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
