Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The bottom line is that people have been waiting for inexcusably long periods. One patient described the return of vision after a cataract treatment as the difference between day and night. It is not an expensive or complicated procedure and a sophisticated country like ours should be able to provide access to such an operation within a couple of months at the longest.

The Minister's statement that the future objective is to have 80% of patients dealt with within 13 months, which means that 20%, or one in five, would have to wait for much longer, is not acceptable. We have no details about how that target will be met, where specifically the new procedures will be carried out and where the new surgeons will be appointed. Will the Minister give specific focus to the questions I have asked and detail how the objectives that he set out are to be achieved?

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