Dr. Tony O'Connell:

We lost more than 15,000 staff over the past seven years in the austerity programme, as well as €4 billion in funding. This is in the face of attendances increasing by 3% in the last year, unscheduled admissions through emergency department portals increasing by 2% and the total number of inpatient bed days increasing by 2.3%. There is a significant increase in what we are doing alongside an almost unprecedented - around the world - reduction in funding for the system.