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

In those circumstances the Taoiseach and his Government are failing miserably in their task. I do not accept his excuse this is a consequence of Covid. For example, he said he would eliminate waiting lists when he was Minister for Health 20 years ago. We now have 900,000 people waiting on lists. In 2015, the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach's partner in government and a former Minister for Health, said people would be waiting no longer than 18 months to see a consultant. Last month 155,000 people were waiting longer than 18 months. I could go on and on.

The truth is the failure lies with a lack of capacity; that is for sure. We lack beds but also resources, theatre capacity and diagnostics. The list is very long. Arguably, however, the bigger failure is a failure to reform. I was very alarmed to hear, as recently as this morning at the health committee, that it seems the Secretary General of the Department of Health has not signed up for Sláintecare and has not signed up for the type of reform we need.

I will put it to the Taoiseach again. Does he accept responsibility for this situation? How is it that the emergency department task force has not met? I see the Minister has joined us. Can we have an explanation for that, given the chronic situation?

See this speech in context