Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Government has decided and agreed, and accepted the repeated observations by parties on this side of the House, that there is a national emergency in so far as accident and emergency units are concerned. We have heard nothing from the Taoiseach on behalf of the Government as to the Government's plan to deal with capacity. What is the target for capacity? There seems to be confusion about the number of beds which are required. Why has the Government not dealt with the acute medical units which were supposed to be put in place under the Tánaiste's ten-point plan or the after-hours GP service, both of which would relieve stress on accident and emergency units? There is no reference to such matters in the plans to deal with this national emergency, which requires a national response.

It is interesting to note that the Tánaiste said in an interview yesterday that there were 500 people on trolleys in hospitals three weeks ago. She rightly said that it was completely unacceptable. Given that the figure she cited had been issued by the Irish Nurses Organisation, can we take it that yesterday's figure of 384 is also correct? Is the phoney war between the HSE and the Department of Health and Children, on the one hand, and the INO, on the other hand, now at an end? Does the Tánaiste accept that the figures issued by the INO are correct?

The Tánaiste's statement that the problems in accident and emergency units constitute a national emergency represent a complete reversal of the Taoiseach's claim that there is no crisis in the health service. We found out yesterday that the HSE is happy to accept that there should be a waiting period of 24 hours, rather than 12 hours, in accident and emergency units. This is completely unacceptable. The Tánaiste, who has been Minister for Health and Children for 18 months, said when she took office that accident and emergency departments were her first priority. The ten-point plan she set out at that time has since been abandoned, clearly as a result of a difference of opinion about hospital capacity figures. Responsibility for matters of this nature is being deliberately hived off to the Health Service Executive.

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