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

There is no pretence about the fact - it is not a good record for the Government - that there are 68,000 people waiting for inpatient treatments, 400,000 people waiting for outpatient appointments and under-staffing right across the system. My local hospital, the Mater hospital, is at least 100 nursing staff short of what is required. If the Minister is trying to put a gloss on this that he has done fantastically well and has protected the health service, all of the evidence speaks against that. The experiences of people on waiting lists and particularly those going into accident and emergency testifies to the contrary.

To boil it down, I want to know if the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, has challenged the Minister to get his act together or the Government to collectively get its act together and commit the level of funding that is required just to have a stable, decent level of service within the health system?

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