I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after “That Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following: "notes that: — this Government recently announced a record €25.8 billion budget for the delivery of health services in 2025, and this represents an increase of over 43 per cent from the €18.1 billion allocated in Budget 2020; — there has been an unprecedented level of investment by this Government in the health service workforce since taking office, and as of August 2024, there were 27,901 more staff working in our h…

I misspoke. It is in quarter two.

There is no link between those two things.

No, it has not. It has gone way up.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." This is an annual technical Bill regarding health insurance. However, there is a crucial difference this year in that I propose to make amendments to the Bill in the House in the coming hour or two which will create the legal framework for the provision of free hormone replacement therapy in Ireland for the first time. We are liberally using the legislative tools available to us. Before we get to that, I must of course address the health insurance aspects of the Bi…

Last year.

I am sure it is being looked at.

What the Deputy is saying is entirely false.

I thank the Deputies for their support of the Bill, which is greatly appreciated. I look forward to going to Committee Stage. In the time I have, I will address some of the other issues that colleagues raised. Whether I should or not, I am going to start with the contribution of Deputy Boyd Barrett. I listened to probably five minutes of the misinformation that Deputy Boyd Barrett brought in during Leaders’ Questions. I now have a chance to respond and I am going to use it. Deputy Boyd Barrett stated clearly that n…

He sets himself up as the champion of our healthcare workers and he says that no progress is being made towards universal healthcare or Sláintecare.

Our healthcare workers have halved the time that people wait for an outpatient appointment but Deputy Boyd Barrett says that is irrelevant. They have revolutionised women's healthcare but Deputy Boyd Barrett says that is irrelevant. They have brought in IVF and free contraception and are about to bring in free HRT, and they brought in specialist services in menopause and endometriosis, but Deputy Boyd Barrett says that is not progress and not relevant to anybody. They have invested in cancer services and cancer sur…

Is it better across the board? It is not. Our healthcare workers have brought waiting times in this country down from over 13 months to seven months and we are going towards the agreed Sláintecare target that no one waits more than ten to 12 weeks but, apparently, that is irrelevant. Apparently according to Deputy Boyd Barrett, all of the progress that our healthcare workers are making does not matter. Well, it does matter and we are making progress. I fully acknowledge the question put to me by several colleagues …

-----to make things better and they are succeeding. That does not suit everybody. There are some people in this Chamber who want the public to believe we live in a failed state and that everything in healthcare is terrible. Everything in healthcare is not terrible. Things are getting better every year and every month. Are there parts of our healthcare service that do not work for patients? Yes, there are-----

-----but just this week, after years of work, we were able to announce really important progress on children's spinal services. We were able to announce that this year, the number of children waiting more than four months will fall from 86 to 20. I fully accept that it is still 20 too many, but we have gone from 86 to 20 in one year and all 20 of them in consultation with their surgeons will be offered care in the United States. I appreciate that the facts do not suit some Members of this House. I appreciate that t…

The improvements I am talking about have been achieved by our healthcare professionals and I acknowledge that. We rightly spend a lot of time talking about hospital-based care but look at what has happened in community-based care, again as called for under Sláintecare. My constituency does not have a big hospital. We do not have a model 3 or model 4 hospital but in my time, I have opened four primary care centres in County Wicklow, in Bray, Arklow, Rathdrum and Baltinglass. Planning permission has gone in for a cen…

Children who were referred to specialist care-----

I appreciate that the Deputies do not like the truth.

I appreciate that the truth does not suit them.

Democracy may not suit the Deputies and the truth may not suit them-----

-----but our healthcare workers have reduced the waiting times for children in Dublin and other areas from two to three years to six weeks.