Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste has some cheek to call for constructive engagement from nurses who are at the end of their tether. They are stressed out of their minds and managing an impossible and utterly chaotic situation in our hospitals. It takes gall of the highest order for the Tánaiste to appeal to them to be constructive. They are more than constructive. Every day they are managing the chaos the Government has caused in our hospitals.

I referred to the Mater Hospital, which is about to invoke the use of the full capacity protocol. This involves taking people from trolleys and moving them to different wards - the Tánaiste knows the protocol. Does she know that on any given day seven hospitals trigger that protocol? That is how dire the situation is, but that seems to pass the Tánaiste and Minister by.

The Tánaiste has bragged about 700 extra nursing posts. As of 8 November, the figures from the HSE's staff management analysis show that in terms of staff nursing positions we are in a minus situation. We are actually down 274 posts. The Tánaiste can play with figures in terms of recruitment, but she cannot get away from the fact that there are 4,500 fewer positions, the moratorium has buckled our hospitals and something urgent and immediate needs to be done.

I ask the Tánaiste to answer the questions I put to her initially. What of the Minister, Deputy Varadkar? He is presiding over a disaster that is putting the safety and, God forbid, the lives of patients at risk. That is the reality.

See this speech in context