Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

I wish to remind the Taoiseach that this debate is not about newspaper headlines. It is about public patients suffering acutely on hospital waiting lists and in our hospitals because of a simple failure by his Government. He has gone all over the place with figures so I will keep the focus of my question narrow. Later tonight an excellent motion on cancer care tabled by the Independent Deputies and me will allow a much wider discussion on this and wider aspects of the health service. It is very simple to see why planned surgeries in St. James's Hospital have been cancelled over the past week because the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, Deputy McDowell, and the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, individually and jointly have blatantly and cynically failed to meet the commitment the Taoiseach made five years ago to restore 3,000 extra beds to the public hospital system.

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