Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the waiting list issue mentioned by the Deputy, later this week the Minister will publish figures and even the Deputy will be surprised at the extent of the improvement in terms of persons having to wait for very long periods for attention in Irish hospitals. I hope that when the figures are published this week, the Deputy will appreciate the professional staff involved who have made very significant improvements in the length people must wait over very long periods. The Minister will follow that through over a period with being able to determine just why waiting lists are so long in some cases and not so long in others. Patients are entitled to have information about that issue as well.

I do not accept the Deputy's weekly assertions that the health service is crumbling. It is a challenging period, as the chief executive of the HSE has said quite clearly. Every year is challenging in health and the money allocated this year is very far short of what was allocated during a previous time, when money was so flúirseach that an end to all national emergencies was declared, and yet the service did not measure up to what is being delivered now, having extracted costs, with people delivering so much more in front-line services. There is a belief in being able to deliver in patient care.

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