Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The fact that people are on trolleys is a failure of Government policy, and nobody could dispute that. The HSE said, however, that there is no budget for those 107 nurses. What does the Minister say to the man or woman standing beside their elderly relative this evening who is on a trolley or in a chair in an accident and emergency department? It was agreed that 107 nurses is the absolute minimum number needed to nurse those people on trolleys. Let's give up and accept that trolleys are going to be a reality for as long as they are needed, but let us try to provide a basic minimum level of staffing. Can the Minister confirm that the budget is there for those 107 nurses? Or can he confirm that it is not? The HSE personnel were very clear with us in stating that when they went to the Department of Health that budget was not there.

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