Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Some 100,000 people work in our medical and health service and they conduct the clinical assessment on each patient and refer accordingly. The Deputy wants to keep talking about the 18-month wait. Let me tell him for the third time that cases classified as urgent get the next available slot, which is between two and three days for the majority of these, and, at the bad end, the wait goes to five weeks. That is the information available.

The waiting time for non-urgent cases — I already explained what Professor Tom Keane said about this issue — ranges from three to 18 months. I agree that seems to be a wide span, but it is a decision medical clinicians make. The important thing is——

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