Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Over the last number of months, we have regrettably borne witness to the scale of the crisis facing our health service on the watch of the Minister, Deputy Harris. The debacle surrounding the cost of the national children's hospital rumbles on, nurses and midwives have had to engage in industrial action, one-in-seven consultant posts is vacant and support staff have announced their intention to ballot for industrial action. All the while, hospital waiting lists continue to grow and hundreds of patients are left on hospital trolleys, day in, day out.

Last night, in Cork University Hospital, there was a status black escalation declared, with patients attending the emergency department facing extreme delays of up to 12 hours and with services reaching breaking point. A status black escalation is declared, I understand, when the hospital is at maximum capacity and when it is deemed unsafe to admit further patients.

There is a capacity crisis in the health service and this is very concerning. There were 70 people on trolleys in Cork University Hospital this morning, with 570 people on trolleys across the State. Yesterday, in Limerick, there were more people on trolleys than in Dublin's nine hospitals combined, according to the INMO. I am sure the Tánaiste will agree that this is shocking.

There are also reports that during the status black escalation up to eight ambulances were lined up outside the accident and emergency at Cork University Hospital waiting to hand over patients. I am told that one of those ambulances was forced to wait for more than four hours. That is the sort of situation that puts patient and staff at serious risk and it is unacceptable.

We have raised the capacity crisis over and over again with the Government over the past number of years - nurses were on the picket line raising this very issue just over a month ago - and all we see by way of response is inaction and indifference on the part of the Minister. They are the ones who insisted that Deputy Harris remain in situwhen we, in Sinn Féin, tabled a motion of no confidence in him.

What we need is a robust response. Last night, in the Tánaiste's own city, things got so bad that a black escalation, the highest level of escalation possible, was declared. Staff tell us that it is the worst they have ever seen. The Tánaiste must surely agree that this demands an adequate response. Can he tell me what is to happen at Cork University Hospital in the first instance, given this escalation over the past 24 hours?

More generally, what is the Government's plan to respond to the capacity crisis in a manner that will get to the root cause of the problem and address the crisis sooner rather than later?

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