James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will do something about it and as we speak Mr. Ian Carter, the new chief of the hospital directorate, and Ms Liz Nixon, head of the special delivery unit, are in Limerick examining the situation as it relates to inpatient and outpatient treatment times, the trolley situation and the capacity issue which has arisen. What we have done on the inpatient side is very clear, with 95% of people who had been waiting longer than nine months now being treated within this timeframe, and were heading towards eight months this year. In the short period of time we have had the honour and privilege of being in government we have done more than was done for several years previous, despite the countless billions of euro poured in.

To put it in one sentence, it was simply a case that Fianna Fáil, and Deputy Micheál Martin in particular, were prepared to sweep the problem under the carpet and not expose it to the light of day or else throw money at it and keep their fingers crossed in the vain hope it would go away.

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