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All of us
are adjusting to our new routines and trying to come to terms with the real
threat posed by the Corona Virus pandemic. The thousands of deaths in Italy and
Spain are grim reminders of what may be coming our way and a deadly incentive
for us all to stop close contact with other human beings and to keep to the
health directives which now govern how we live. It would be easy to be
overwhelmed by all this. We all know someone who has the virus. We know we
could be next. So we watch the responses of those in the three governments
which rule us as we wait for the next news report or the next instruction.
Don’t make
this political some readers may say. Why not? It is political. I don’t want
decisions about the well being of my family and friends to be made by a Jack
the Lad in London who has vandalised the very health services which we are so
dependent on. Neither do I want a caretaker Taoiseach without a mandate who did
exactly the same thing when he was in power. Or his partner the Fianna Fáil
Leader who did the same thing. I can just about put up with the novel form of
governance which we tolerate in the North because of our peculiar circumstances
but I want change. Not footery, fiddley cosmetic change. Not spin. No! I want real
societal change. That includes a real public health service alongside other
public services.
If ever there was a need for decent
health services, properly resourced and funded, this pandemic has provided the
evidence for it. It has also demonstrated the folly of partition with its two
health and economic systems on our small island. Add to this a decade of
austerity policies by the Tories in London and by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the
Greens and Labour in Dublin and you have health systems already unable to meet
the normal needs of citizens. Faced with a pandemic virus, which has required
an unprecedented societal response, our two health systems have been fighting a
desperate battle to provide the necessary health care to the growing numbers of
citizens succumbing to Covid-19.
Last week along with millions of
others across these islands I applauded the courage and selflessness of health
service staff who are putting their lives on the line against an insidious
viral enemy. Like most of you I know family members, neighbours, friends who go
to work every day within our health system. They don’t see themselves as
heroes. But that is who they are. Heroes, who deserve our solidarity and our
thanks. They also deserve personal protection equipment that is fit for purpose
and intensive care units and ventilators sufficient to meet the needs of their
patients.
It is a fact that the Health Service
in the North has always been underfunded. This has grown worse in the last
decade under British conservative governments, supported by Unionist parties.
As a result waiting lists have lengthened, and accident and emergency
departments are under resourced.
In the South the two tier health
service created and funded by successive Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour
governments, and the austerity policies of these parties, created enormous gaps
in health care provision. Acute hospital beds were cut, a moratorium on hiring
nurses and health staff was imposed, and investment in the health service was
slashed. Beds in Intensive Care Units were dramatically cut.
According to the World Health
Organisation, the Irish state is “unique among EU countries in not
providing universal coverage of primary care ... its system of entitlement to
publicly financed healthcare is complex”. WHO concluded that: “This
results in not only unmet need but also inequitable and inefficient patterns of
use ... These barriers are substantial relative to other EU countries,
especially for primary care.”
The OECD has made an equally damning
assessment of the British health system.
The decision therefore by the
government in Dublin to take control of private hospitals was belated but
welcome. It would also be interesting to see the small print of that agreement.
But it is only for the duration of this emergency. After the crisis is over the
government’s ideological stance will return us to the status quo - a two tier
health service in which patients must pay for access to GPs and receive bills
for treatment in A&E departments.
It is this same ideological position
that caused Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour’s failure to invest in public
services. The Director General of the Irish Business and Employers
Confederation (IBEC) acknowledged this last November. He cited as evidence the
ongoing crises in housing and homelessness, the scandal of a health service, as
well as deficiencies in childcare provision, public transport and education.
All of this led to a widespread
public desire for change. This became evident in February when Sinn Féin
emerged as the largest party in the state in the general election. The
Coronavirus crisis has amplified this demand for change. It is now a constant
and growing refrain on social media platforms, and in newspaper articles and
opinion pieces. How often have you heard or read it said that things can never
be the same again. That there must be change. That we can’t simply continue as
before. That we have to change the way we do our politics. That this global
crisis must lead to fundamental societal change - economic, social, health and
political change.
Political decisions needed to protect
families, secure jobs for the future, maintain a reasonable level of income
have been forced on reluctant governments in Dublin and London.
Note however that the bankers and
insurance companies continue to rip off citizens. Note how those most likely to
succumb to the virus are the elderly, the vulnerable, the poor, the homeless.
citizens in Direct Provision, in nursing homes, in Traveller sites and
frontline health workers.
There is a real danger that out of
these hard times we will see the old order re-invent itself. Fine Gael and
Fianna Fáil in government is not change. Remember how in the aftermath of the
2016 general election there was much talk of ‘new politics,’ of a new way of
doing things. Editorial and opinion writers and many political commentators
wrote reams about the transformation heralded by this ‘new politics’. But
thankfully citizens saw through this. It was all a scam – it was all a lie. The
‘confidence and supply’ arrangement between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail was
coalition by another name.
A Fine Gael – Fianna Fáil carve up
coalition will just be more of the same. The spin will be different but the
core conservative politics will remain unchanged.
So too in the North for as long as we
are tied to Britain.
Irish republicans have a different
vision of the future from the establishment parties. We are for a national
republic – a new Republic. But we dont have to wait until then to make change .
We can insist here and NOW on the highest standard of services and protections
for all citizens equally. We can demand parity of esteem and equality of
treatment, opportunity and outcome. Thats what the Good Friday Agreement sets
out.
In the here and now we should all be
demanding real change which benefits citizens, protects working families, takes
care of the disadvantaged, and invests in public services. That’s what citizens
deserve. But that will only happen if we make it happen.
This is not pie in the sky. This is doable.
Society on this island is already shifting. Changing demographics and political
allegiances, new ideas and concepts, new leaderships are reshaping Ireland
today. Let’s not allow the self-interests of the old conservative parties to
dictate the limits of our potential or of our future. Let us argue for a real
National Health Service across the island of Ireland with seamless and maximum
co operation between both parts.
As we face into whatever distress and
tragedy the pandemic serves up let us resolve that our health workers and
carers will never again have to beg or borrow protective clothing. Let us
resolve that our nurses will be properly paid and that there will be enough of
them. Let us resolve that our doctors and patients deserve the best facilities.
Let us resolve that our elderly and vulnerable citizens will have their rights.
Let us resolve that heath service is one of these rights. It is not a business
or a privilege.
And let us resolve that the best
people to take these decisions for the people of this island are the people of
this island. Not some Jack the Lad in London.
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