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Health
Healthcare for everyone is a cornerstone of a decent society. This is my goal as your TD – to make sure everyone can get the healthcare they need when they need it. If you need a doctor, nurse or therapist. If you need a simple procedure or a complex operation. If you need home care or a nursing home. It can’t matter how much money you have, where you live or what age you are.
Thanks to four strong years of investment and reform with Fianna Fáil in government we are now well on our way to making healthcare for everyone a reality.
Member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health
I believe in the delivery of fundamental public health services to the highest standard through investment, innovation and reform. As a member of the Oireachtas Health Committee, my goal is to drive progress in these key areas to ensure that our healthcare system meets the needs of everyone in our community.
I work closely with numerous health organisations that hold personal significance to me and are vital to our healthcare landscape. I have actively worked to bring these groups before the Health Committee, providing them a platform to advocate for themselves and the patients they represent nationwide. These include Rare Diseases Ireland, Irish Lung Fibrosis Association, Irish Heart Foundation, autism organisations like Involve, Irish Cancer Society and many others. Their voices are essential in shaping a healthcare system that truly serves all.
Building a Stronger Healthcare System
In 2024 we have built on the strong momentum in health achieved over the past three years of government, with continued improvements in affordability, capacity, access, and the rollout of new services.
Under Fianna Fáil’s leadership, we have made historic strides in expanding access to healthcare. We introduced free GP care for children aged 6 and 7 and extended this benefit to those earning up to the median income. Supported by the medical union, this is the largest expansion of free GP care in the history of the state, covering up to 500,000 people.
These measures follow other significant initiatives, such as abolishing inpatient hospital charges, providing free contraception for women aged 17-31, and reducing the maximum monthly cost for families under the Drug Payment Scheme.
Our investment in healthcare has also delivered substantial increases in capacity. Since the 2020 general election, we have added 20,000 healthcare workers, over 1,000 hospital beds, and increased intensive care capacity by 25%. For the first time since 2015, hospital waiting lists fell last year, with 155,000 fewer patients waiting over 10-12 weeks for care compared to the pandemic peak. We are committed to further reducing these numbers in 2024, focusing especially on those who have been waiting the longest.
Reforms are underway to replicate successful strategies that have eliminated trolley waits in several hospitals across the entire system.
Fianna Fáil is leading the largest expansion and reform of our public health service in many years, with a clear and ambitious goal: achieving universal healthcare. This remains one of the most important and unfinished projects of our nation—a commitment to ensuring that everyone can access high-quality, affordable healthcare when they need it.