Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

On behalf of the Labour Party I join the Taoiseach and Deputy Kenny in extending condolences on this terrible but avoidable tragedy. Reading the graphic description in the newspapers this morning on the way this man died one is reluctant to focus on the matter at all. It must cause additional grief to the family. Mr. Walsh's sister is quoted this morning saying that an animal would not be let die in the way that her brother died. Nevertheless, the family and people in general will expect us in Dáil Éireann, the national parliament of the people, to raise this question. How can it happen in a civilised country in 2005 that a man should die in a fashion that I will not repeat from the newspapers this morning because it makes such unbearable reading?

When one considers policy in health services at the moment one must come to the conclusion that the service is in free fall. Nothing competes with this tragic example in highlighting the extent of the acute crisis in critical aspects of the management of the health services. The Tánaiste, when she came into office, published a ten-point programme to deal with this situation. Almost none of the ten points has been implemented. I could not believe it when I heard her state earlier that there has been a 22% reduction in patients on trolleys between April and September. The period between April and September is in high summer. That is the kind of sleight of hand that she would be the first to condemn out of the mouth of any other Member of this House. We are not even in winter, but the Tánaiste adduces figures about what happened in the summer. She may as well state that there has been a reduction in the winter vomiting bug between April and September, such is the relevance of what she said.

What is the position on beds inappropriately occupied? Is it true, as The Irish Times reported yesterday, that 378 beds are inappropriately occupied in the acute hospitals in Dublin alone? How many such beds have been freed up as a result of the Tánaiste's ten-point plan? Could we have some answers to these questions rather than some sleight of hand about what happened in the height of the best summer enjoyed since the rainbow Government in 1995?

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