Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

A previous Taoiseach described the current Taoiseach as the most cunning and devious of them all. It has been reported that a Government backbencher said yesterday that it is sometimes impossible to figure out what goes on in the Taoiseach's head. The Taoiseach's response is very far removed from the reality. When I visited the accident and emergency unit of the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital last week, the head nurse there gave me a graphic description of a serious assault on a ward sister.

Will the Taoiseach appoint a respected member of the health profession to call together the key stakeholders? These are the consultants, who should be discussing this instead of debating it on radio, the nurses, the general practitioners and those involved in successful experiments such as that in Kilkenny. They should be called together to produce short-term responses that can be delivered. Is the Taoiseach prepared to charge drunks extra for sleeping off their intoxication in wards with their hangers on? These people cause serious disruption to patients, doctors, nurses and the general public. Is he prepared to set up a number of helplines now? People should be able to know where they can get help when they need it. How many GPs are available any night on any weekend from Howth to Loughlinstown? Where do people get help when they want it? Why has the Government not been able to implement nursing home regulations that will allow for people to be discharged from hospitals to well regulated, well run nursing homes? Guidelines for this are being drawn up for a long time, yet nothing has happened.

This House is becoming irrelevant to people on trolleys today and tomorrow. They are not just on trolleys; people are also on chairs. I saw it myself last week in the accident and emergency unit in the Mater hospital. The place was cluttered and jammed and there was no room for any kind of movement at the weekend. The Taoiseach should visit some of those hospitals and see what is going on.

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