Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to debate the following urgent matter: the failure of the Government to implement the measures needed to end the crisis in accident and emergency units in our hospitals, as set out in the Government's health strategy in 2001, including the provision of the additional 3,000 hospital beds required, a new consultants' contract which prioritises the public system and the roll-out of an efficient and equitable primary care network; and the need for the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children to make herself fully accountable to the Dáil for these failures, including the dire situation in hospitals in the north east region where accident and emergency units are overcrowded, where intensive care beds are not available and where cuts in services have resulted in deaths of patients, including that of the late Pat Joe Walsh.

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