Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing with Deputies Marc MacSharry and Michael Moynihan.

I welcome the opportunity to debate this issue because the "Living On The List" programme by RTÉ's "Prime Time Investigates" was a devastating critique of what was is happening daily in people's lives throughout the country. The sad reality is that it is nothing new. In that context, in the area of scoliosis, on 16 November last, using pseudonyms, I read into the record of the House during a Topical Issue debate that was taken by the Minister of State, Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, an outline of the cases of some of the people that appeared in the programme, which was devastating to watch last Monday night. However, we should not be surprised because what has been happening over the past six years was always going to result in waiting lists escalating, people waiting inordinate periods of time, and more and more people depending on a public hospital system that had a shrinking capacity. Not only did it have a shrinking capacity but there was increased demand on it. The only safety valve that was available was the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, which was scrapped in 2011. Therefore, we were always going to arrive at this position.

We on this side of the House have been consistently highlighting that capacity was a major problem, but nothing was done. The Fine Gael Minister for Health, James Reilly, who is the deputy leader of Fine Gael, stated at the time that it was not all about beds and capacity. He is right, but we subsequently found out that our hospitals are running at 100% on a continual basis. There is no room to deal with winter flu and bug problems or infectious disease problems etc. There is no room in our hospital systems. The Minister for Health knows that as did his predecessor and his predecessor before him. The only avenue available to address the issues of scoliosis and many other elective surgeries that are urgently needed was through the NTPF, which was shelved. By the Minister's own admission, that was a mistake and he reintroduced it.

We now have a situation where the management in the HSE has been blamed consistently over recent weeks. I have no difficulty with HSE management being held to account. It should be held to account.

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