Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This will be a matter for the Business Committee. I would have no objection to a debate on it. We will have the affordable childcare scheme in place next year.

On Deputy O'Reilly's clarification, the figure of 376 adult patients on trolleys today came from the Department of Health at 8 a.m. this morning. The INMO does a different count that is 518. The HSE count includes patients on chairs and trolleys in and around emergency departments but the INMO has over the years widened the count out to include patients on trolleys in other parts of the hospital and also people who not on trolleys. They may be in day wards rather than night wards, or may be in an overflow ward. The INMO count includes people who are in beds.

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