Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I reject that. Is the Minister going to wait until there are another 17 dead? Is he going to wait on the people dying on trolleys? It is not an answer; it is a cop-out. Deputy Harris is the Minister. The Government has collective responsibility under the seal of office handed to it by the President. The Government has to take some kind of action and not just give pipsqueak answers like that to score political points. I am not scoring political points. It does not give me any joy to have a 14-year-old child languishing on a children's ward for 11 weeks when she needs psychiatric treatment. The Minister of State, Deputy Daly, is meeting us tomorrow. There are other cases up and down the country. The lads behind me, Deputy Michael Collins, Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and Deputy Michael Healy-Rae are bringing bus loads up to Belfast to stop them from going blind. It cannot be done here. It is dysfunctional beyond the extreme. Any right-thinking person or second-class student would know it is not working.

Earlier today, the highly respected journalist, Gemma O'Doherty, who has done much to highlight corruption in the State issued a Tweet saying:

It has now emerged 162 women were NOT told their smear test results were wrong. 17 have died. @FineGael are ta[l]king about an enquiry. A functioning democracy with a decent [self-respect or moral compass and a functioning] police force would be talking about manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and imminent arrests.

We have become a banana republic. They can do what they like, people will die and the Minister will wring his hands and say he is not scoring political points. He is not fit for his job, he is not doing it and he has not done it. Will he resign?

See this speech in context