Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach's starting point in dealing with this issue must be that the health service for which he is responsible is in total chaos. Sin é; that is the truth of the matter. Last year was the worst year on record for patients in terms of the indignity and distress of waiting on hospital trolleys. The European health consumer index published recently found that this State had the worst emergency department waiting times among 35 European states. St. Vincent's hospital in Dublin yesterday became the latest hospital to cancel surgeries, following the debacle witnessed at Cork University Hospital last week.

Having promised to fix the health service, the Government has made it worse. Yesterday, there were 517 citizens on trolleys in emergency departments. The Government promised free general practitioner care, an end to prescription charges and the abolition of the Health Service Executive. Broken promise after broken promise and a health service in chaos - that is the Taoiseach's legacy as his Government prepares to leave office.

These difficulties arise because the Government has set its face against developing a universal health service. Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Fianna Fáil are committed to a two-tier system which is dependent on a patient's ability to pay and his or her location. The result is the appalling and chaotic conditions that the Government has refused to address.

If patients were treated as citizens-----

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