Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I will deal now with capacity issues. Reference was made to the capacity of the accident and emergency department in Limerick Regional Hospital. On approximately two or three occasions last year patients had to wait more than six hours in that department. That is a fact. As Deputy Reilly knows, patients are treated on trolleys all the time; sometimes the only treatment provided to a patient is while he or she is on a trolley. That is the case not only in hospitals in Ireland but in hospitals throughout the world. The fact that at any one time a given number of people are on a trolley does not prove any point the Deputy Reilly is trying to make.

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