Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

All we have got at the end of it is a father who is desperate, and siblings who have been assaulted, and the same situation.

If we go to the other side of it, a neighbour of mine, a lady in her late 70s, was to get a bed in Beaumont Hospital. Her family took a week off on five occasions, took an apartment in Dublin at a cost to themselves, and took time off work to be with their mother. Every time, her bed has been cancelled. It is more waffle, waffle, waffle. It is a sad situation when the money has been given by the Taoiseach and our Ministers. If I am the boss of a company or of something, I tell someone to do that or to not do it. It is one or the other. There are two choices; you either do it or if you do not produce the goods, you are not there. The charity sector the money was given to has failed this country. That is a sign of victory, when you look at people. They have turned that around the other way. The Government knows what they have told it. I have talked to the Taoiseach's own office. I am not blaming the people there. In fairness, a person there has contacted me nearly every day.

However, is there not something awful wrong with this country in 2024 when a youngster in County Roscommon is eating a couch, when a woman is lying at home bent over, fluid has to be drained from her brain, and her appointment has been cancelled five times? We talk about all the money we have and Ireland going forward. What have we done? We have left these people desolate. Is that the type of governance we should talk about or be proud of in 2024?

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