Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann,

noting:

—that the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children is now more than 100 days in office;

—with deep concern, the request from the Health and Safety Authority seeking an urgent safety inspection and comprehensive risk assessment of every hospital accident and emergency unit in the State with immediate steps to address any deficiencies;

—that the Health and Safety Authority request follows a statement by the Irish Hospital Consultants Association last week that overcrowding of accident and emergency units is posing a "serious risk" to patients;

—that there are as many as 400 patients on trolleys in accident and emergency departments awaiting beds at various times according to statistics from the Irish Nurses Organisation;

—that the situation is worst in a number of Dublin hospitals with 46 patients on trolleys at Tallaght Hospital, 28 at St. Vincent's Hospital and 27 at the Mater Hospital;

—that the Health and Safety Authority requires the hospitals to report back by 25 February 2005 along with confirmation that steps are being taken to tackle the problems identified;

—the necessity for the action of the Health and Safety Authority in requiring an urgent safety inspection of every accident and emergency unit in the State;

—the failure of the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children to make any impact on the crisis situation in the accident and emergency departments of our hospitals;

demands that the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children:

—take immediate action to address the ongoing and continuous crisis in the accident and emergency units of our hospitals;

—outline a timescale within which this action will be taken;

—immediately address the growing sense of frustration among staff in accident and emergency units;

—make urgent provision for sufficient new beds to end the crisis; and assist the hospitals immediately to meet all their needs arising from the safety audit and risk assessment as required by the Health and Safety Authority.

I propose to share my time with Deputies Cowley, McHugh, James Breen, Gormley and Ó Caoláin. I acknowledge it was the action of the Patients Together group which primarily focused national attention on the scandal of the suffering of so many of our people, left on trolleys for days and nights in accident and emergency units, which has led to this motion. I pay tribute to the group for its efforts to expose this scandal and am confident it will continue until this outrage is ended.

The situation is all the more scandalous and unacceptable because Ireland is now one of the wealthiest countries in the world and apparently the second most affluent state in Europe. In this context, it is particularly shameful that the crisis in the accident and emergency service is allowed to continue. It is a blot on the good name of this country.

As long as there is a two-tier health service, with medical care readily available for those who can afford to pay and long waiting lists for the rest, there will be the misery of trolleys in accident and emergency units for hundreds of unfortunate people. This inequality is at the heart of the matter. Ironically, it is the policies of the Government that have made Ireland one of the most unequal societies in the developed world. The crisis in accident and emergency units is merely one of many symptoms of that social injustice.

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