LAST UPDATE | 17 Apr
THINGS GOT HEATED in the Dáil today as Mary Lou McDonald and Simon Harris faced off over hospital waiting lists, with both sides accusing each other of misleading the public.
During Leaders’ Questions, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald raised the issue of hospital cancellations and said 250,000 appointments were cancelled last year – a new record.
According to data released from the HSE to Sinn Féin, hospital cancellations increased by 58,000 last year.
Among these, according to Children’s Health Ireland were 865 cancelled chemotherapy sessions for children last year – up from 408 cancellations in 2022.
McDonald told the Taoiseach: “Just imagine the cancellation of a child’s chemotherapy appointment, the cancellation of an appointment that you know is a big part of your child’s fight. Government has to stop this happening.”
In a statement this evening, Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) said that “there are no ‘cancellations’ in chemotherapy treatment”.
“The majority of delays/deferrals are due to patient-specific reasons and based on clinical decisions relating to the patient’s medical condition at the time,” CHI said.
It said that patients may need to be rescheduled for a number of clinical reasons, such as a patient’s bloods indicating treatment should be deferred, a patient being unwell and unable for treatment or treatment no longer being needed.
CHI said that “delays or deferrals due to inpatient beds/staffing are rescheduled to the earliest available bed or space”, adding that this is usually within one to two days.
“Day cases may take slightly longer to be rescheduled, but are also done as soon as possible,” it said.
McDonald called on the Government to increase bed capacity in hospitals and said 3,000 additional beds were needed.
She also called on the Government to end the recruitment embargo in the HSE.
In response, the Taoiseach accused Sinn Féin of presenting the cancellation figures in a disingenuous manner and noted that the HSE said the figures should not be compared on an annual basis as the 2022 figures are not comparable with the 2023 figures.
He went on to say that the Government has invested more in children’s healthcare than Sinn Féin committed to in its alternative budget.
He said: “I’d like to know yesterday, after I raised the issue of Sinn Féin’s alternative budget for health why it disappeared and vanished like Shergar from your website?”
“Why did you take it down yesterday?,” the Taoiseach asked as he made reference to the infamous kidnapped racehorse.
“I have a copy of it here,” the Taoiseach said as he held a document in the air as he was heckled by the Sinn Féin benches.
A Google search shows the document still remains on the Sinn Féin website.
Taking to Twitter, Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson David Cullinane accused the Taoiseach of misleading the public.
For the second day running the Taoiseach is wrong again.
— David Cullinane T.D. (@davidcullinane) April 17, 2024
Nothing to say about 250,000 hospital cancellations.
Nothing to say about the recruitment embargo.
Instead he misleads about Sinn Féin Health plan being removed from our website.
Not true. Read it for yourself.…
“For the second day running the Taoiseach is wrong again. Nothing to say about 250,000 hospital cancellations. Nothing to say about the recruitment embargo. Instead he misleads about Sinn Féin Health plan being removed from our website. Not true. Read it for yourself,” Cullinane wrote.
When asked in Brussels this evening if he would correct the record, as the document can be found online, the Taoiseach rounded on Sinn Féin and the party leader, stating he would not apologies.
He said McDonald is yet to tell him how she plans to fix the health service with less money than is already being provided by government.
He said he finds it “absolutely fascinating” that McDonald comes into the Dáil every day, stating that “she has all the solutions - she is going to fix this, fix that”, accusing her of showing “faux outrage”.
“And at the end of the day she published a budget that offered half a billion less,” he told reporters.
Harris said Sinn Féin’s plan would underfund the health service, yet the the party is promising more beds, and less waiting times.
“Come on. Let’s get real here,” said the Taoiseach, stating that McDonald needs to explain how she plans to fix the health service by providing less money.
The Taoiseach also hit out at Sinn Féin and their housing policy, stating that McDonald is yet to explain how she will bring down the cost of the average house price in Dublin from €450,000 to €300,000, something she pledged in an interview with The Irish Times last year.
“So I’m fed up with this populist politics. We face real challenges in our country,” he concluded.
With reporting by Christina Finn in Brussels and Hayley Halpin
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