Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste says that Deputy Harris has a tough job. I will tell the Minister what I believe is a tough job. A tough job is that of a mother or a father, a parent, waiting a year and a half for a simple operation while their child's spine twists and turns. Another tough job is that of the women and families who have been so desperately affected by the cervical smear scandal. There is also the matter of the reports of failings in audiology services. There has been scandal after scandal, week in, week out. Deputy Harty mentioned the hospital in Limerick, in my local hospital, South Tipperary General Hospital, a total of 35 unfortunate patients are on trolleys. The front-line staff are under appalling pressure, as they are every day. They do a great job. There were 57 patients on trolleys in Limerick, which means there was a total of 92 between the hospitals. What is the Minister going to do about it?

He could only insult the nurses with his pedantic childish tweeting when they were out on strike. Some 94% of the 2,000 GPs in the National Association of General Practitioners, NAGP, do not have confidence in the Minister. How dare he put out an insulting, childish, and condescending tweet, as he did at 12.45 p.m. today? Did he think he was in "High Noon" or "The High Chaparral" and that he was John Wayne, Rambo, or Joe Kidd? The guys in here are sitting on their hands and letting him away with it week in, week out. They can talk about the Brexit baby. Some day it is going to fall and shatter into smithereens and they and the Minister will all be caught under it. Brexit is serious but it is not serious enough to allow the Minister away with this scandal in respect of the children's hospital.

The Minister would not listen to Dr. Jimmy Sheehan, Dr. Finn Breathnach or Dr. Róisín Healy. Last week the Minister had to apologise to the Dáil for misleading the House. I do not know where the Taoiseach has gone; he defended the Minister and ran. That is what he will do when the Minister is in real trouble. He will not be at his side, he will be gone. The Taoiseach said yesterday that he met Dr. Sheehan and Dr. Breathnach. He never met them. He has to apologise to the House. He did not meet those people because they know how to build hospitals and have a track record. He must apologise to this House.

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