Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

The Taoiseach said that the Cabinet sub-committee on health met with the special delivery unit. Three weeks ago, the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine exposed the disgraceful situation in emergency units of children's hospitals, with some children waiting for 12 hours on trolleys. I wonder if the Taoiseach had the opportunity to discuss the topic with the special delivery unit. A very useful briefing by the special delivery unit representatives took place last week. I pointed out that when they were first introduced to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, when an ongoing crisis came to a head before Christmas, the number of citizens on trolleys was 45 or 46. Last week it was back to 45 or 46 and the special delivery unit representatives acknowledged a capacity issue. The Taoiseach described the special delivery unit as having made a very positive impact on hospital services but that very unit is now saying a capacity issue is causing a crisis in this particular hospital. The unit representatives also made revealing remarks about the hospital and health services in that region. Did the Taoiseach have the opportunity to discuss with the special delivery unit representatives the totally unacceptable situation where children are on trolleys for up to 12 hours and the fact that capacity is a problem in terms of 46 or 47 adult citizens ending up on trolleys?

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