Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The death of Mr. Walsh is a tragedy and I will not bring that into arguments about other circumstances. The Deputy posed the question as to why Mr. Walsh was transferred when he was in a hospital since 21 September and when there was a bed in Cavan. Why did this happen? Why did they check with Beaumont Hospital? Did they check with Beaumont? To inquire into these and all the related questions the Tánaiste has given the investigative task to an eminent consultant surgeon.

There is a separate question over the 106,000 people working and saving many people's lives in top-class operations and services. It is not correct to indicate that they are not doing immense work every day, or that they are not being properly resourced and managed every day.

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