Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his passion. All I can state about the accusation that there are vast queues and great difficulties is that that is not the report I am getting. It is absolutely the case there has been a build-up, as the Deputy said. There are numbers building up at peak hours as one might expect when a dramatic event like this happens. There are more people turning up for walk-in slots, while more people are applying for appointments. However, the figures I have for yesterday are as follows. In Castlebar four people were turned away, while in Cavan one person was. In Ennis, Roscommon, the Deputy's county, and Athlone no one was turned away. In Carrick-on-Shannon two people were waiting, while in Clarehall three were waiting and the centre was open until 6 p.m. In Drogheda, Cork and Galway there were no one waiting. I could keep going, but I guess that the Deputy does not for one second suggest the figures I am getting have been falsified or are in any way misleading. They do not, however, accord with the image he has built of vast queues of frustrated people at doors. He is right - some people have to wait, but we are in an unprecedented situation. I would have thought that instead of making wild accusations about civil servants who are producing accurate figures, he would have congratulated me on the fact that-----

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