Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Yesterday in this House, Opposition Deputies exercised their rights to ask questions about the death of a man in Monaghan General Hospital last Friday. In doing so, Deputies reflected the outrage of people all over the country at the fact that a man could die in hospital from a condition which was treatable by the medical staff around him. Far from receiving satisfactory answers, we got a drip-feed of incomplete information. It is incredible that four days after this tragic death, the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach did not know that beds were available in Drogheda hospital. It is perfectly obvious that the health services and the competence of the health authorities in the north east are now in a complete mess. The Government has been warned repeatedly about this, but no action was taken politically to accept responsibility and see that competence was delivered. Deputy Crawford produced a letter in this House on 4 October which was sent out to GPs in the Cavan area. It stated that no patient should be sent into the hospital for emergency treatment because of trolleys and an inability to deal with them. It is incomprehensible that a man could have been allowed to die when personnel and medical staff were available with the necessary skills to carry out a vital life saving operation on him.

Does the Taoiseach accept that the protocols laid down for Drogheda, Monaghan and Cavan hospitals impose limitations on what can be done and the procedures that can be carried out? Does he accept that these protocols cause great confusion about what actually can be done? Does he accept that what is needed here is political direction to bring clarity to the situation? Yesterday, I raised the fact that under section 10 of the 2004 Act, the Minister for Health and Children is entitled to give a directive to the Health Service Executive in circumstances like this to the effect that no administrative procedure should prevent skilled surgeons and competent medical people from carrying out a life-saving operation. Will the Taoiseach see to it that such a directive is given under the law by the Minister for Health and Children to bring clarity and certainty to a situation like this? Skilled people in Monaghan General Hospital had to stand around and watch a patient die because of an administrative blockage. That is a scandal, which rests politically with the Taoiseach and the Government. Under the Act, he is entitled to bring clarity to the situation and I ask him to confirm that this morning.

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