Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I despair, but I do not have the luxury of giving in to it because I have a voice in this Chamber. The Taoiseach is presiding over the deaths of people. I do not know whether he heard a single word that I said. Galway has been operating on code black, which is the highest emergency code, for months. A full capacity protocol is in operation due to overcrowding. The accident and emergency situation is a symptom.

I have not asked for a new hospital. The clinical director has asked for a new hospital to be planned. I do not know whether the Taoiseach heard me say that an audit was conducted regarding an amputation on a ward and that 198 surgical patient cases had been reviewed. The review covered January 2013 to November 2014, but we only heard about it in 2016. Unfortunately, I know about it intimately.

I will repeat what I said. The Taoiseach might do me the courtesy of hearing what I say, stepping out of his bland rhetoric and apologising to those who have suffered or died. Let me repeat-----

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