Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is extremely important that the Deputy accepts that every effort is being made to deal with the waiting lists. The trend is going in the right direction. I accept that is no help for the individual to whom the Deputy referred.

The point is that it is an absolute priority to deal with this issue in a variety of ways. First of all, real money is being put in to deal with the 500 more operations for those who need hip and cateract procedures, etc., by the end of the year. There is €1 million a week to deal with waiting lists. The National Treatment Purchase Fund will have an allocation next year of €55 million, a huge increase to deal with people on those waiting lists. We accept that people are waiting too long.

In terms of Deputy Kelleher's point about people informing citizens of their rights as EU citizens-----

See this speech in context