Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I thank my colleague Deputy Twomey for tabling this important motion. This issue affects everyone in this House and in the broader community. In the past year I saw a "Prime Time" programme about people who, having consumed large quantities of alcohol, wound up in accident and emergency departments on weekend nights. This is a serious problem. Deputy Twomey has made some good points in this motion, which I urge the Government to support. These proposals would go a long way towards solving the crisis in accident and emergency departments, especially on weekend nights.

Deputy Neville said one in four people present at accident and emergency departments with alcohol in their system. In recent years attendances in accident and emergency departments have increased. The attendance in the accident and emergency department of Wexford General Hospital in 2000 was 21,398 and in 2004 it was 28,467, an increase of 7,069 or 33%. Doubtless many of those were involved in drink-related incidents.

A drink culture of alcohol abuse has developed among young people. Most of those in accident and emergency departments at night, especially at the weekend, are aged between 16 years and 24 years. One regularly sees ambulances on the streets of Dublin and outside nightclubs at weekends collecting these young people from the streets and bringing them to accident and emergency departments where they clog up the hospital system. The safety of medical staff working under severe pressure in accident and emergency units must be considered. That is why it is good idea to place gardaí in those units on weekend nights.

The only way to teach these people a lesson is to hit them in their pockets. If they must pay to attend an accident and emergency unit when they are drunk, they will quickly recognise they cannot regularly behave in this way. It would be interesting to know if the same offenders appear each weekend or on several occasions.

I call on the Government to support the motion and recognise its importance.

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