Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I know what the INO case is, but I do not know what the Government's response is, which is what interests me. What is the Taoiseach saying his Government will do in response to the INO position? That is the question.

If the Taoiseach agrees that elective operations are being cancelled, I suggest he asks his backbenchers whether any cardiac or cancer cases are included. They know they are because they are knocking at people's doors stating that it is the fault of the Minister, Deputy Harney, while the Taoiseach stills tolerates in Cabinet the man who bequeathed this disastrous legacy to her. At the launch of the latest health strategy in 2004, the Taoiseach sat with his Minister for Finance and pledged solemnly to the people that nobody would wait for longer than three months. People are still waiting for longer than 12 months.

In a recent reply to a question from Deputy McManus about the number of care beds in the country, the HSE stated on 6 December that "information on intensive care beds and day beds is not currently available". In his capacity as chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children, Deputy Moloney got a letter from the Intensive Care Society of Ireland, drawing his attention to the fact that precisely what has happened in St. James's Hospital this morning would happen.

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