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

The chaos caused by the Tánaiste's Government is starting to get out of control. Its mismanagement has led to chaos in our justice system, chaos in transport and chaos in governance, but perhaps the most stark and painful is the chaos in our hospitals. Waiting lists continue to soar. Exhausted and demoralised staff are leaving in droves, there is a dangerous lack of capacity in our ambulance services and there has been no let up. There has been no let up for the nurse finishing a 12 hour shift knowing that she has to go back to dealing with the consequences of this Government's mismanagement and chaotic attitude to health care.

Figures have been published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. I want to thank it for publishing the figures because they are a valuable addition to our discourse on health. Very often, they inject facts which contradict the Government's spin. The figures show that March 2017 has seen the highest ever number of people on trolleys since 2006. For the benefit of those who have not heard, that is 9,459. In 2008, the figure was 4,700. Last month, 9,459 patients were admitted for inpatient care. A decision was taken by a doctor that they needed a bed and there was no bed for them. I remind the Tánaiste that it is only a short few years since her colleague, the former Minister for Health, now Senator James Reilly, gave a commitment that never again would we see 569 people on trolleys. In January, the Government was surprised by the influenza outbreak and the figure increased to over 600.

I believe that if something needs to be fixed we should stop what we are doing and do that. Clearly, reviews do not work. Committees do not work. Kicking the can down the road, and God knows that is one of the Government's favourite pastimes, does not work. The Government's winter initiative has not worked. The National Treatment Purchase Fund, the practice of the Government giving money into the private sector, crossing its fingers, closing its eyes and hoping that somehow that will improve the public service, has not worked and will not work in the long run. People need solutions that work.

Will the Tánaiste take the necessary steps to deal with the scale of this crisis? Will she listen to the voices of patients, carers, the workers and their representatives? Will she confirm for our elderly citizens sitting at home in fear that the Government will not means test the already overstretched home help service but that it will increase the number of hours available?

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