Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My major concern is what is happening in our accident and emergency departments. Unfortunately, in the last while we have had numerous occasions to visit them. The accident and emergency departments in the smaller hospitals such as Bantry and Mallow have been closed and those services have been transferred to the accident and emergency department in Cork University Hospital in Cork city, where the conditions are appalling. People can be in the accident and emergency department for two, three or four days and they tend to be predominantly elderly people in their late eighties or early nineties. The Taoiseach referred in his reply to resources and so forth and to the Sláintecare report, which has been agreed by all politicians in this House.

As we face into the third week of April 2018, there is a crisis across the system that has been there since the first week of January. A consultant made the point to me earlier this year that almost four weeks of elective surgeries have been cancelled in 2018 alone. He and I had that discussion prior to St. Patrick's Day. That consultant said that in the first two weeks in January there was the closure of elective surgeries to ensure there was proper capacity in place to deal with the 'flu epidemic immediately after Christmas. We had another closure of elective surgeries during the snow event and there were other closures of elective surgeries when the crisis hit in early February. Four weeks of elective surgeries have been cancelled. The cancellation of those patients' surgeries is adding to the overcrowded lists. There does not seem to be any recognition of the logjam that has created across the system. While the Taoiseach can use fancy language and throw resources at this issue, the crisis in health is staggering. We need to wake up in terms of what is happening here and now and how we can deal with it.

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