Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I refer to Roscommon County Hospital or St. Mary's Orthopaedic Hospital in Cork, for which he promised a new hospital building. It is difficult for us to accept his words when we see that his recent actions are completely to the contrary of what he said previously.

I do not expect that this motion will be carried in the House, but I do expect Deputies opposite to say honestly in the Chamber that they are not satisfied with the performance of this Government and with the commitments that were made and reneged on time and again, particularly in the areas of waiting lists, medical card applications, the fair deal scheme, the attack on community and residential long-stay nursing homes, and the increase in the insurance levy.

The Minister spoke bravely last year about taking on the consultants. Now they are clearly riding roughshod over him, even in the context of the ratio of bed allocation in some hospitals. This is a serious issue. The Minister said he was going to reduce their salaries and obtain higher productivity, but he has done neither. They are driving a coach and four through the guidelines on the allocation of designated beds at a ratio of 20:80 or 30:70.

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