General Irish politics discussion thread

The handling of the first decision to cut a schools allocation reflected a lack of knowledge of the front line challenges and a lack of respect for those doing that front line work.

For many in public service it seems the system would work great if it weren’t for the public.

Again that sounds like the same strategy. Where they are most needed doesn't mean they aren't needed where they are also. There's a huge shortfall in the system, it needs to be upped to cope with it's needs, not taken from one place to fix another. Anyway, the reversal has made it obvious that the plan as it was presented is inadequate and needs to be improved on.

https://x.com/Ireland_Votes/status/2026779284531032071

Well oddly enough SF have decided to go with Boylan , she knows where the bodies are buried or Mary Lou is deluded enough to the SF brand is enough to get the job done.

Gillian wasn't a slam dunk tbf, but seemed a very much formidable candidate. Daniel Ennis should win easily enough now.

I think the main takeaway here is that Mary Lou personally courted Gillian Sherratt, yet despite the leader's imprimatur she hasn't been selected. In Mary Lou's own yard no less.

The SDs say they would provide free GP care for everyone by 2030.

A GP was interviewed yesterday and said it was unworkable.

These are not serious people.

Some wonder why FFG keep getting voted back in.

The alternative is the shinners who think Ukraine shouldn't be getting weapons to defend themselves and a joke of a party like the SDS.

Sheratt running for another party (or as independent, but another party would be harsher) now would be the icing on the shitshow cake.

She may want to run and have zero allegiance to SF

Was it not that they simply altered the ratio, without explanation?

You've just proved it's not workable, if the practicalities don't get it, the greed of the doctors will.

Sinéad Gibney is a liability. An absolute walking disaster every time she opens her gob.

The timeline is grossly unrealistic without also being backed up by plausible recruitment and infrastructure plans.

Which it appears it is not.

The existing GP capacity in this country cannot take the ~60% increase in visits that happen when visits become free; as it can barely cope as it is. Just turning on the tap, even if you do a Nye Bevan "stuff[ed] their mouths with gold" thing to existing GPs, will not cause a rapid increase in GP availability.

The state needs to build primary care centres, refurbish existing health centres and most likely hire GPs as staff to do such a thing.

That is an outcome I am in favour of, but I don't believe the SDs have a plan to do it. They are an exceptionally shallow entity, a collection of poor candidate choices coalescing to be a party around the shadows of a former leader who hasn't really left.

It does, but the current government have not moved an inch towards delivery.

Currently, with a tiny few exceptions*, GP practices are private businesses, and contractors to the state for medical card services; albeit most outside of urban areas are tenants of the HSE for their premises.

This is no longer working.

*in severe circumstances where no GP is willing to take on a medical card list as a contractor, and they cannot just make people go somewhere else, the HSE will hire someone as temporary staff to do it. Inisheer/Inishmaan was like this for years, may still be.

You think FFG are incapable of handing loads-a-munny to the GPs? I remember a case some years ago where a GP asked the HSE to buy him one of those nice automatic gates to protect his surgery, and did they say NO? not on yer nelly.

Govt need to be very strong on this.

The price of heating oil on the company that I use for heating oil jumped from €996 per 1000 litres on Friday to over €1200 yesterday.