Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One almost loses the will to live in regard to this. In 2014, the accident and emergency unit was deemed not fit for purpose. Ten years later, it is still not fit for purpose. The Minister tells me money is going into it. There are 62 people on trolleys. They should not be on trolleys. We live in a Republic. The Government has normalised a situation where patients are on trolleys. I know that each of the Ministers personally thinks that is horrific, but it is time to look at what is happening. The Minister should stop quoting figures to me, please. Sixty-four people are on trolleys; would he or I be on a trolley tomorrow? That is the question we ask in a Republic. What is it we are doing ten years after Leo Varadkar said the accident and emergency unit was not fit for purpose?

We have gone around in circles in respect of a strategic assessment review, with different answers. I was told it had been accepted and approved by the health executive board in November 2023, and then I was told in a different answer that it had gone for approval. How in God's name can we stand over a situation ten years later where we do not even have a deadline for an accident and emergency unit, not to mention the maternity unit, which is going in overhead, in a maternity strategy that is coming to an end in two years' time? Those staff are functioning in suboptimal conditions. HIQA said the hospital had failed on two of four essential standards. I do not want to stand here and lambast the Government. I want a public health service that is fit for us to call ourselves a Republic.

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