Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are 361 citizens lying on hospital trolleys in the corridors of our hospitals all over the country as this motion is being debated. This figure represents 72 more than on the same date in 2017 and 43 more than on the same date in 2016. It is an indictment of us as a society that, when it comes to our health system, we now reference the suffering of our citizens as figures. We need to remind ourselves that these figures are our parents, our partners, our siblings, our children, our extended family members, our friends and our neighbours. Day after day, patients lying on these trolleys end up joining the ever-growing waiting lists for medical procedures across our health system. We have to realise that these waiting lists represent people suffering and in pain and, for many, lives suspended until they secure the operation they need.

In April, the Department launched a plan to reduce hospital waiting lists for those waiting longest to have the procedures carried out through the national treatment purchase fund, NTPF. I am sure these people will welcome the fact that, for them at least, an end to their suffering is in sight. There is, however, a systemic problem. The NTPF is a fudge, another Irish solution to an Irish problem. Capacity is the only solution to the seemingly never-ending problem. It is simply logical to decide that the only way to end years of long waiting lists, once and for all, is to build more capacity.

It frightens me when I hear of tax cuts and sweeteners for the rich in the upcoming budget and then look at the waiting lists in our hospitals and the lists to get our homeless families into suitable accommodation. The ordinary, decent, socially just people of Ireland deserve and demand better. Yes, those who get up early would much rather sacrifice an extra couple of euro weekly from their pocket if the Government could present and commit to a clear solution to a hospital waiting list crisis. I urge the Minister to be ambitious, to reach for the socially just conscience which I know he has to end the misery of our people and to choose investment in budget 2019, not giveaways to those who quite clearly do not require them.

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