Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

This is relevant to what is stated in the programme for Government. The very raison d'être behind the proposition in the programme is that the scheme will free up beds in the public hospital system. Has the Taoiseach noted that patients being moved out of long-term care in our public health system has resulted not in beds being freed up for further patient access but in the beds in question being closed? The figures I cite are not mine but information proffered by health professionals in the hospital system which shows that 1,000 beds have been lost as a result of cutbacks in that regard.

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