Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry to interrupt. I have just a quick point. Waiting lists are not a new phenomenon in this country. There were waiting lists ten, 15 and 20 years ago. What I am a little concerned about is this: we do not seem to have come up with a model that allows for a free, rapid flow of people through the system. I was one of those who called for the reintroduction of outsourcing because the waiting lists had become intolerable. Scoliosis is a classic example, whereby people are urgently waiting for treatment. What do we do? It is a little like the housing lists. The people on the front line of dealing with the housing lists tell us we must house the people who have been on the lists for ten years or more. What, then, do we do with the people who are out on the road now? It is the same with the health services. The people who are acutely in need of services and responses now cannot wait for two, five or ten years, depending on the particular requirements. They cannot wait at all.