Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. Every night, some 20 people are treated on chairs on Beaumont Hospital. People are remaining for up to 70 hours on trolleys in an overcrowding crisis in that hospital. Nurse Moira Wynne said: "It's disgusting to watch. The noise level is humongous, there is no dignity or privacy and elderly patients are disoriented." There are 49 more patients than there are beds on an average night. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has called for this to be declared a national emergency.

We know there were early warning signs to the Government relating to the crisis at Beaumont Hospital. The Taoiseach will remember that last June, Professor Shane O'Neill resigned from his clinical directorship because he could not stand over significant clinical risks at the hospital. He described the accident and emergency department as being "entirely unsafe and indefensible". That was last June. In September, the CEO of the hospital sent an e-mail to all hospital staff as 58 patients were on trolleys. He said that in the interest of the safety of all patients, the hospital should regain its stability as a matter of urgency. Last Friday, this national tertiary hospital, which has one of the two neuro-surgical centres in this State, was taken off call. Essentially, no patients could be taken in, no ambulances could be used and no 999 calls could be dealt with. It was completely off call.

The bottom line is that incredibly, the budget of Beaumont Hospital over the past 12 months was cut by €14 million on the outturn. That is when the seeds of this crisis were sown by the Government in the very dishonest Estimate for the health services we got last year. A total of €14 million was taken out. When one adds in the fact that the fair deal scheme was screwed altogether in terms of the lack of funding over the past 12 months, one begins to see how a crisis like this develops in the days leading up to Christmas.

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