Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach had a plan in 2007 to get rid of trolleys. He had a plan and made a promise to introduce universal health insurance which was abandoned last month by the Government. He got rid of the National Treatment Purchase Fund which was working effectively. The Taoiseach has agreed a plan to deal with the situation in emergency departments. It is clear that it will add to waiting times for those waiting for elective procedures. There are 16,000 people waiting for colonoscopies across the country, 3,700 of whom have been waiting more than six months. That is a totally unacceptable situation. At the weekend, the CEO of the health executive said there was no plan, vision or money in the context of the sort of multi-annual budgeting that the National Health Service in Britain has. It is an appalling indictment of the health service that the Taoiseach and his Government are operating. In 2013, we were briefed that the Taoiseach was going to personally take charge of the health service, he was going to grab it by the scruff of the neck. Does the Taoiseach accept that he, his two Ministers for Health and his Government have failed the Irish people and have been an abject failure when it comes to delivering to the Irish people the calibre of service they require?

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