Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. People in County Clare are exhausted waiting for delivery. They were hopeful the Government would use the surpluses in this budget as an opportunity to make a lot of wrongs right, including reinstating the accident and emergency department in our general hospital. There is a review ongoing but, as with other issues being experienced in the county, all that Clare people are hearing is review after review. This is delaying solutions to the dangerous situations people in the county face on a daily basis. There was a huge surplus and this was the time to do the right thing. Clare is the only county in Munster that does not have an accident and emergency department. This is significantly impacting our people's health and whether they even want to access healthcare.

There are recruitment and retention issues in a lot of vital services. There are issues in childcare and education and with An Garda Síochána, nurses and children's disability network teams. Reform and workforce planning were required but these did not come through in the budget. It is obvious that an election is coming.

With regard to housing, we have an awful lot of vacant properties in County Clare. If we were to turn even half of them into accommodation, it would address the numbers we have on the housing list. As it stands, people are not getting access to emergency accommodation. It is matter-of-factly put to them to find family or friends but they do not have that capacity - end of story.

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