Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The chief executive of the HSE has visited 19 hospitals in the last number of weeks where the pressure in this kind of situation was more acute and more obvious than in other cases. I am not saying that staff are resisting change. Change is always difficult to implement but the Government, in response to queries last February and March, put more money into the system to reduce the delayed discharges to provide for the availability of the fair deal scheme and the waiting period was reduced from 18 weeks to four. That was supposed to deal with the problem; it did not deal with it. We now have an extra 300 beds coming onstream and extra money in the system.

See this speech in context