John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

This problem applies across the board, not just in the health service. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform also must realise that we need more gardaí because our population has increased. Across the board, there is an infrastructural deficit and a problem with which the Government cannot cope which results from the growth in population caused by the growth in the economy. It is clear that the Government cannot manage growth in the economy.

Another problem the Tánaiste has failed to recognise is that 25% of those who present at accident and emergency units are intoxicated. The Tánaiste is not dealing with the unruly people who cause serious problems. The alcohol products Bill would have been a start but the Tánaiste shelved it and it mysteriously disappeared from the programme for Government.

The Tánaiste stated that this would be the litmus test. When I used litmus paper at school it was to judge the pH value of a substance. Someone would always mess about and put in a lump of potassium when we were trying to measure the pH values, which had severe consequences. The Tánaiste's privatisation and Americanisation of the health service is similar. She is destroying the health service and making the accident and emergency crisis much worse through her actions. It is time to discover that we want to be closer to Berlin than to Boston.

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