Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

These are the factors that mitigate against public patients getting access to services in the public hospital system when they require them. It is not good enough and must end.

There are 2,500 private beds out of 13,500 beds in our public hospitals. I want to move 1,000 of those beds from the private system to the public system. I want to convert them into public beds so all patients can have access to them so the nurses, the administration, the management and all of the radiology and pathology facilities, which are paid for by the taxpayers, are available to all patients, not just some. I want to replace those beds by having a private facility built, invested in and managed by private individuals and companies. The land will not be given away, it will be either sold or leased.

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