Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Taoiseach's recitation of figures will be poor consolation to those people who are waiting for an operation.

I wish to deal in particular with the HSE embargo. This type of staggering from in one month announcing an embargo on recruitment to the next month announcing its continuation is hardly the way to run the health service. It is also inconsistent. I do not know if the Taoiseach read the "Situations Vacant" column in last week's newspapers which contained an advertisement for a chief nursing officer, apparently to advise the Minister for Health and Children on nursing matters. This country hardly needs more advisers on health. What we need is more nurses and medical personnel in the system. It is a little incongruous that at a time when the Health Service Executive has a complete embargo on the recruitment of medical staff, the Minister remains unaffected and is free to advertise and hire more advisers in the health area.

Does the Taoiseach have any appreciation of the worry, concern and sometimes pain suffered by people on hospital waiting lists? In effect, the Taoiseach said that because one million patients go through the system, 41,000 is not a significant number? This shows a poor understanding of the conditions which people, particularly those dependent on the public health service, have to endure. What will the Government do, if anything, about the embargo imposed by the Health Service Executive? Does the Taoiseach believe it is satisfactory that our health service and hospitals are managed in such a way that they stagger from one month to the next? There was an embargo on recruitment of staff last month. That has been extended for another month and it may continue until Christmas. Surely, it is possible, given the large apparatus established under the Health Service Executive, to organise matters so that people can obtain the treatment they deserve without having to wait for six, 12 or more months?

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