The most consistent and angriest complaint on the door steps is of broken promises and the resultant targeting of those on low and middle incomes for cuts and new taxes.
When considering promises and announcements by Labour and Fine Gael in this General Election Campaign, voters are considering what happened to the promises they made in the last General Election Campaign.
The Public have been pointing out to me the litany of broken promises which include:
St. Michael’s Unit.
At a local level, Labour Leader Eamonn Gilmore, promised to protect South Tipperary General Hospital. Labour Minister, Kathleen Lynch, in government, closed down St Michael’s Psychiatric Unit in Clonmel and transferred it to Kilkenny.
Hospital Trolleys
We will “end the scandal of Hospital Trolleys” said Enda Kenny. The result is Trolley Chaos in our Emergency Departments, the closure of 2,000 hospital beds, the loss of 11,000 health staff and the loss of 2 million home help hours.
Water Tax
Through the 2011 General Election TESCO AD and in its election manifesto, The Labour Party promised to prevent the introduction of domestic water tax. In government they agreed to introduce this tax and Minister Alan Kelly is now implementing it.
Child Benefit
In the 2011 General Election Tesco AD, the Labour Party said it would prevent Fine Gael reducing Child Benefit. Labour leader Joan Burton, in government, did the opposite and cut Child Benefit.
FAMILY HOME TAX
Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny, said “ It Is Morally Wrong, Unjust and Unfair to Tax a Person’s Home”. But in Government, he introduced this unfair tax.
Lone Parents
Speaking in the Dáil on 18th April 2012, Minister Joan Burton said she would only proceed with plans to reform the One Parent Family Payment by 2014/15 if she got a “credible and bankable commitment” by the time of Budget 2013 that the Irish Government would put in place “a system of safe, affordable and accessible child care, similar to what is found in the Scandinavian countries to whose systems of social protection we aspire”.
Minister Burton went ahead with the changes without any such child care system being in place.
Crime
Enda Kenny promised to increase the Garda Force by 2,000 Gardaí. The result was 2,000 less Gardaí, 130 Garda Station closed and increased levels of rural crime.
Heating Allowances
Then there was the Labour Manifesto promise to invest in ending fuel poverty which causes unnecessary deaths of older people every winter. “However, Labour will also take immediate action to alleviate the risk of fuel poverty in the short term by reinvesting €40 million from the
carbon tax to alleviate fuel poverty, and by developing a national fuel
poverty strategy as set out in Labour’s Fuel Poverty and Energy
Conservation Bill.” Labour Party Manifesto 2011.
Instead, the heating allowances were cut by the Labour Leader
The Public are fed up of broken promises. They are taking the recent spate of promises from all the political parties with a large dose of salt.
The Door Steps say Don’t Believe Them and Don’t Let It Happen Again!
Seamus Healy TD
Tel : 087-2802199
08/02/2016
“The unions and staff associations have been looking for a resource study of the Ambulance Service for a number of years and I believe the HSE has finally agreed to such a study.
In these circumstances, there should be no more service cuts and certainly no more service cuts in south Tipperary. I commend the Tipperary Ambulance Action Group which is opposed to the cuts across south Tipperary and came together to campaign on this issue. It has completed a comprehensive study of the ambulance service in south Tipperary. The study confirms that on the basis of the current ambulance service configuration in the county which is based on three stations – Clonmel, Cashel and Tipperary town – the current staffing levels and equipment in those stations, in excess of 55% of the population of south Tipperary cannot be given an adequate service that meets the minimum response times. What does the HSE want to do? On top of a crisis, it wants to introduce further cuts. This is completely ridiculous and I am calling on the Minister to stop any cuts in the ambulance service, not just in south Tipperary but throughout the country, and to ensure that the service is properly funded and staffed.
Full Dail Record of Speech
Deputy Seamus Healy: I rise to support the motion on the ambulance service requesting adequate funding for the service. Anybody who has an eye to see or an ear to hear knows that the ambulance service is under-funded, under-resourced, understaffed and under-equipped and that it compares unfavourably with our neighbours in Northern Ireland and particularly Scotland. We have about 1,600 staff while Scotland, which has a similar population, has 4,500 staff and double the funding. It is widely accepted that the ambulance service in this country is in crisis. The Minister has looked for a review from HIQA. The unions and staff associations have been looking for a resource study for a number of years and I believe the HSE has finally agreed to such a study.
In these circumstances, there should be no more service cuts and certainly no more service cuts in south Tipperary. I commend the Tipperary Ambulance Action Group which is opposed to the cuts across south Tipperary and came together to campaign on this issue. It has completed a comprehensive study of the ambulance service in south Tipperary. The study confirms that on the basis of the current ambulance service configuration in the county which is based on three stations – Clonmel, Cashel and Tipperary town – the current staffing levels and equipment in those stations, in excess of 55% of the population of south Tipperary cannot be given an adequate service that meets the minimum response times. What does the HSE want to do? On top of a crisis, it wants to introduce further cuts. This is completely ridiculous and I am calling on the Minister to stop any cuts in the ambulance service, not just in south Tipperary but throughout the country, and to ensure that the service is properly funded and staffed.
Motion re Ambulance Service:
“That Dáil Éireann:
acknowledging the:
—
selfless dedication to their work of the paramedics in our ambulance service;
—
high quality of care that they provide; and
—
uniquely pressurised nature of the work they undertake;
recognises that:
—
there is nationwide concern and disquiet about the provision of ambulance services;
—
this situation can be exacerbated by delays in accident and emergency wards;
—
in 2013 only one in every three people with life-threatening conditions were responded to within the target time;
—
delays in ambulance response times far exceed both national and international accepted norms;
—
large areas of the population right across the country are regularly left without any local ambulance cover;
—
the Health Service Executive lowered the ambulance response time targets to 80 per cent in 2012 and 70 per cent in 2013; and
—
the centralisation of control and dispatch has led to concerns about a lack of local knowledge and the impact that can have;
notes that:
—
the Republic of Ireland, with a population of 4.6 million, has an ambulance service that employs less than 1,600 staff and an annual budget of €137.4 million;
—
Northern Ireland, with a population of 1.7 million, has an ambulance service that employs just fewer than 1200 staff with an annual budget of £62 million (€78 million); and
—
Scotland, with a population of 5.3 million, has an ambulance service that employs over 4,500 staff with an annual budget of £203.5 million (€258 million);
believes that:
—
while paramedics do their utmost to provide a service to the highest international standards, this is impossible with current budgets;
—
it is essential that paramedics be properly resourced to carry out their work; and
—
such resources are not currently forthcoming from the Government; and
calls for the ambulance service to be appropriately resourced so as to ensure a safe and efficient service nationwide.”
Deputy Seamus Healy: I rise to support the motion on the ambulance service requesting adequate funding for the service. Anybody who has an eye to see or an ear to hear knows that the ambulance service is under-funded, under-resourced, understaffed and under-equipped and that it compares unfavourably with our neighbours in Northern Ireland and particularly Scotland. We have about 1,600 staff while Scotland, which has a similar population, has 4,500 staff and double the funding. It is widely accepted that the ambulance service in this country is in crisis. The Minister has looked for a review from HIQA. The unions and staff associations have been looking for a resource study for a number of years and I believe the HSE has finally agreed to such a study.
In these circumstances, there should be no more service cuts and certainly no more service cuts in south Tipperary. I commend the Tipperary Ambulance Action Group which is opposed to the cuts across south Tipperary and came together to campaign on this issue. It has completed a comprehensive study of the ambulance service in south Tipperary. The study confirms that on the basis of the current ambulance service configuration in the county which is based on three stations – Clonmel, Cashel and Tipperary town – the current staffing levels and equipment in those stations, in excess of 55% of the population of south Tipperary cannot be given an adequate service that meets the minimum response times. What does the HSE want to do? On top of a crisis, it wants to introduce further cuts. This is completely ridiculous and I am calling on the Minister to stop any cuts in the ambulance service, not just in south Tipperary but throughout the country, and to ensure that the service is properly funded and staffed.
Workers & Unemployed Action 