Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I thank Deputy Moynihan-Cronin for sharing her time with me. I rise to support the amendment tabled today by my colleague, the Labour Party health spokesperson, Deputy McManus. I listened to Deputy Moloney, a Member for whom I have great respect, and if there was ever a statement of admission of the failure of the Government to deal with the health crisis it was the appeal that has just been made by him. What do we get after nine years of this Government, in the best of times with unprecedented revenues available to it? We get the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children announcing a national emergency in respect of accident and emergency services in hospitals. We also get a highly respected and experienced member of a Government party and a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children throwing up his hands in despair and calling on Members of the House to get together to solve the problem that the Government has failed to solve for the past nine years and asking the Opposition parties to——

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