Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

A constituent of mine recently received correspondence from Cork University Hospital informing him that he had been placed on a waiting list for cataract surgery. He rang the eye department at the hospital to ask what date he had been given for this surgery. The lady on the other end of the line gave him the date. She said it will be in July 2031. My constituent is 82 years of age. He said that that might be a bit of a problem. He said he would probably be in the departure lounge at that stage. The woman then asked him if he was planning on going on a holiday. My constituent laughed, a little bitterly, ended the telephone call and rang yours truly. We are here today to discuss that situation but, more broadly, as of April, there were 40,000 people on waiting lists for eye surgery in the State. What action does the Taoiseach intend to take to remedy this situation?

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