9 February 2025
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Cork South-Central TD Pádraig Rice was recently announced as the Social Democrats’ new spokesperson on health.
Photograph supplied by the Deputy
Pádraig Rice TD said:
“I am honoured to be taking up this important role, which was previously held by party co-founder Róisín Shortall, one of the key architects of Sláintecare.
“In 2017, the Sláintecare roadmap was approved by the Dáil with the intention of bringing the country to a point where we would have a fully functioning universal healthcare system like that enjoyed by many citizens across Europe.
“While some progress has been made, it has been frustratingly slow, largely because no specific budget was set aside for its implementation.
“Delivering a universal healthcare system based on need, and not the ability to pay, will require ringfenced multi-annual funding and a significant focus on workforce planning for the health service.
“It is not too much for people to expect decent healthcare, which is a key part of the social contract.
“But instead, Ireland has a dysfunctional two-tier health service which is incapable of meeting patients’ needs.
“This has been characterised by long waiting lists for public health services on one hand, and, on the other, a large cohort of people feeling they need expensive private health insurance.
“Under the previous government, we saw recruitment embargos place additional pressure on healthcare services; a deepening trolley crisis that continues to compromise patient safety; long delays for children with scoliosis awaiting spinal surgery; and constant underfunding of health in successive budgets.
“In taking up the health spokesperson role, I am determined to continue Róisín’s hard work to see Sláintecare delivered in full.”