Mattie McGrath blasts HSE management, calls for sacking of officials
Mattie McGrath criticised HSE management in a parliamentary speech, accusing senior officials and consultants of arrogance, neglect and corruption and demanding their removal. He highlighted ambulance dispatch failures, long waiting lists, cancelled procedures and local hospital mismanagement while praising frontline staff.
Main accusations
McGrath accused senior HSE figures, including the former Paul Reid and the new CEO, of not caring about patients. He said Secretary Generals and other officials should be removed or sacked for a lack of accountability and alleged arrogance in management.
Ambulance dispatch and waiting lists
He described an example of a 999 ambulance call purportedly being dispatched from Bernie Galt to Carmel and transferred three times en route. He also raised the waiting list at the Southampton Regional Hospital and the cancellation of large numbers of procedures as evidence of systemic failure.
Local hospital management and promises
McGrath criticised management at Limerick University Hospital, saying the manager refuses to stand down or provide transparency. He argued that promised reopenings of E&Es, Sir John's and the Nina will not happen because of obstructive management and claimed beds have been removed under successive governments.
Budget growth and accountability
He noted the HSE budget rose from about 11 billion to roughly twice that amount since he first arrived and said there is no accountability for how funds are spent. He condemned consultant reports and local spending as obscene and described the situation as corruption of the highest order.
Frontline staff and political expectations
McGrath praised nurses and doctors as working tirelessly despite what he called shameful management. He indicated he will watch how political actors, including Sinn Féin mentioned in the speech, respond to restoring services and beds in the future.
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I have no disrespect to the Minister of State here, but where Carwell and Tara start, he just doesn't care. The arrogance owes him from that man. The arrogance owes him from that man. The arrogance owes him from that man. The arrogance owes him from the former Paul Reid and now the new CEO. They don't give a toss about the people, and that's quite honest. And the sooner they're removed, and the sooner these Secretary Generals and other people who have responsibility here are taken out of office, and literally sacked for that matter, because they don't care about people. I figure, see, and I come to mention Fein, bring this motion forward. Imagine the ambulance at the time, the carology goes on there, that an ambulance 999 call goes in, and the ambulance will be dispatched from Bernie Galt to Carmel. Just the ticket box, the time it was dispatched, but no time in the talk might come, and it might be transferred three times on the way. The waiting list in the Southampton Regional Hospital, and the cancellation of so many procedures, is just shocking. The nurses and doctors on the front line work tirelessly, and work fabulously, but management is abomination. Management is a shame to say that we'll give frown money into the HSE. When I came here first, it was about 11 billion. Now it's twice that. No accountability. Nobody has to account. Look at the mess in Limerick University Hospital. And the manager there refuses to step aside or stand down, or have any transparency. We get promises that we might open the E&E's, and Sir John's, and the Nina. That won't happen, because the mandorons don't want it. The beds have been removed under successive governments, and he won't put them back. And I hope to see Sinn Féin under our power, and look at it eagerly, to see how many will be restored, and what will happen. Because the consultants are dictating, everybody is dictating, the patience lasts, your patience for strategy. It's a lot of bunkum. That's what it is. And consultants reports, the mayor's now looking into the better management of the regional hospital in Cork. What's the money they've got? It's obscene. It's corruption of the highest order. Disgusting.
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