Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I do not intend to repeat everything that has been said. However, the wife of a person from County Meath who needs to be admitted to the National Rehabilitation Hospital was on "Liveline" on RTE radio yesterday, and today there was another case in County Cavan, in the constituency I share with the Minister of State's colleague, Deputy Brendan Smith, in which a person was seeking admission to the hospital. Serious cases are presenting every day of every week. How can the Minister of State explain the withholding of home care packages, not putting in place essential stepdown facilities necessary to free up badly-needed beds, and the fact that people in many hospitals around this country are waiting to be transferred?

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