Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Minister and the Ministers of State are here to listen. The situation is truly shocking. I was again contacted yesterday evening to go to the accident and emergency department in the hospital in Clonmel. There were five ambulances parked there at 5.45 p.m. on a beautiful September evening. What are we going to do in the winter? When I arrived, there were three big ambulances that were full, one fast-responder paramedic car and a private ambulance that was just leaving. The pressure the staff are under is shocking. There is mismanagement and dysfunction in accident and emergency departments. The Government will blame it all on Covid but it cannot do that. We saw the horrific thing that happened in Cork University Hospital, which started in November 2020.

The Government must recruit managers who are able to manage people. There are sometimes no doctors in the accident and emergency department because they have to leave with a patient and go elsewhere. Is the Government trying to close down that hospital?

I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to correct the record of this House. Earlier today she whispered to the Taoiseach when I asked a question about the number of people waiting for home help in Tipperary. There are thousands and thousands of people waiting nationally. The Minister of State told the Taoiseach to tell the House that no one in south Tipperary was waiting. The Taoiseach told the House that in good faith. The Minister of State can wave all the sheets of paper she likes. I ask her to correct the record.

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