Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about the budget. Of course, I welcome the increases in social welfare but I wonder how far they will go or how much they will alleviate the situation for people who are having problems and who can barely exist and keep going.

Health is so important and is the first thing I want to talk about. We have a lack of GPs in Kerry and I am sure it is same all over the country. There is also a shortage of nurses in our hospitals and chaos in accident and emergency departments, particularly in University Hospital Kerry, where people are waiting for hours on trolleys and chairs. Waiting times for replacement hips, knees and cataract operations are excessive. Myself and Deputy Michael Collins started running buses to Dublin for people who were suffering agony in the garden with pain in their hips and their backs and whatever and many would have gone blind. I am asking the Minister of State, but there is no Government representative here now, wherever he has gone-----

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