Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will ask some questions of Mr. Reid to outline some of the other figures. The waiting list for an oncology appointment has increased from 32,000 to 94,000 since 2019. The waiting list for an audiology appointment has increased from 16,000 to over 19,000, with 7,000 people waiting more than a year. Are we in a worse position than we may have been due to the historical deficiencies in all of these services?

I will follow on from a response I received to an earlier question. Does Mr. Reid accept that difficulties in terms of presentations to accident and emergency departments are accentuated by the fact that there are delays in all these other treatments? People who should have been scheduled for other appointments are presenting to accident and emergency departments.