Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The figures Deputy Coppinger is using include people who are not on trolleys and who are not in emergency Departments. If Deputy Coppinger does not believe me, she should go to www.inmo.ie/Trolley_Ward_Watch. It will explain exactly how those figures are calculated. Specifically, in Connolly Memorial Hospital the figures include people who are put on the day ward or the surgical day ward when there is an overcrowding problem. They are not on trolleys.

The Deputy's thesis is entirely incorrect. Her thesis is that emergency department overcrowding was worse this January than last January because of staff shortages, but the facts indicate otherwise. The total number of consultants increased from 3,434 to 3,515, the total number of doctors increased from 4,918 to 5,302 and, for the first time in recent years, the number of nurses started to increase again. The number increased from 34,177 at the end of 2013 to 34,509 at the end of 2014, to 34,993 now, and today it is probably above the 35,000 mark for the first time in three or four years. Therefore, the Deputy's thesis that reduced staff numbers have caused overcrowding is clearly nonsense. There have been increased staff numbers and yet despite that there has been more overcrowding, so overcrowding must be caused for a different reason that is not primarily related to staffing levels.

See this speech in context