Mattie McGrath: Blasts Health Service Failures and Waiting Lists
Mattie McGrath spoke on 10 Nov 2020, criticising failures across health services, long waiting lists for speech and language therapy and cancer treatment, taxation of COVID payments, and the government's pandemic handling. He condemned falling standards, raised accountability concerns and described the situation as "a shame".
Primary criticisms
McGrath focused his remarks on the scale of unmet need and systemic failings in health services. He highlighted long waits for emergency speech and language treatment, widespread delays in cancer care including cervical and breast screenings, and pressures on mental health services.
Waiting lists and pandemic support
He cited specific waiting-list figures and warned that people on COVID payments will be required to pay tax on those supports. He criticised the HSE's handling of testing and contact tracing during the pandemic and said many pensioners and small businesses missed out on meaningful support.
Accountability and standards
McGrath contrasted present standards with past expectations and called for accountability, referencing historical ministerial controversies and saying leaders had been weak in response. He blamed the Taoiseach for failing to robustly address these governance and ethical concerns.
Impact on communities and students
He warned of the human cost: children, young students, pensioners and business owners affected by delays and neglect. He described the stacked-up services and screenings as harming public confidence and said the overall picture left him "aghast". He closed by thanking Deputy Healy Ray.
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I am happy to stand here this evening, but I am aghast and the people at home are aghast, when the people of Tipperary have 976 children waiting for emergency speech and language treatment and not Tipperary in East Limerick 1079, when all the people on the COVID payments are now going to be asked to pay tax on the payments, when all the hospitals and the health services are so bad, when we are so much concerned about the failings of the HSE to deal with the pandemic and to deal with the tests and to deal with the contract tracing, when the minister was minister for health, when he chose the site for the children's hospital, there is now a black, dark hole in history, when I think of the men of the hundred years ago, when I think of young Michael Hogan who lost his life with others on Bloody Sunday in Coe Park, when I think of Sean O'Trasek and Liam O'Lean-Cheek and people like that, and when I see the standards here now, how they have failed and slipped, when I saw what happened to Phil Hogan in the early 80s, when he leaked by accident, I have a page of the budget with nothing written across the top of it, private and confidential, and I see the standards now, when I see what happened to Minister Cleary, when I see what happened to Minister Cowne, and they had to be held accountable, but I later blame it, Taoiseach Michal Martin for being so feeble, inept and weak here in dealing with this, the standards have dropped so much, the young people, the class of last year, and now this year, first year students, what they have gone through, and all the people that are out there, the pensioners that couldn't get a penny in support for the pandemic, many of them in business, and the many, many areas of neglect and abuse, when I see the 300,000 women, people, sorry, people waiting for cancer treatments, and I see the cervical check, and I see the breast check, everything stacked up, and the issue of mental health, I think it's a shame what's going on here tonight. Thank you, Deputy Healy Ray.
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