Tánaiste Joan Burton refused to be drawn in any detail on the performance of Cabinet colleague and fellow Dublin West TD Minister for Health Leo Varadkar in heated Dáil exchanges yesterday.
Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said she had a straightforward question for Ms Burton arising from the state of the health services.
She asked: “Given the scale of the crisis, does the Tánaiste still have confidence in the Minister for Health?’ Ms Burton did not respond in her reply.
In supplementary questions, Ms McDonald asked the Tánaiste to answer her initial question.
“What of the Minister, Deputy Varadkar?,’’ she asked. “He is presiding over a disaster that is putting the safety and, God forbid, the lives of patients at risk . . . that is the reality.’’
Ms Burton said she did not deny for a moment that there were very serious stresses on very hard-working nursing staff.
“I have said that the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, brought the task force together which is headed by the head of the HSE and the head of the nurses’ union,’’ she added.
Ms McDonald said the crisis in the health services was getting worse.
"This morning, we learned that 99 per cent of members of the Irish Nurses' and Midwives' Organisation in Beaumont Hospital, in Dublin, have voted for industrial action,'' she added.
“This is not a dispute about pay; it is a dispute about patient safety.’’
Staff levels decimated
She said nursing staff levels had been decimated on the Government’s watch, and nurses would tell the Tánaiste, if she cared to listen, that it was impossible to provide a safe level of care for patients.
Ms Burton said the State’s industrial relations machinery was at the disposal of the parties in the nurses’ dispute. She said she hoped industrial action could be avoided.
She said the emergency department task force had provided funding for the opening of an additional 300 beds to allow patients in beds to move to other, more appropriate units within the hospital. Significant funding had been provided for step-down facilities, particularly for older people who might need nursing home respite care or longer-term nursing home care.
