Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I agree that we need an urgent debate on what is no less than a crisis in the health service. That crisis is growing by the day. At the heart of the debate must be the question of who is accountable and answerable to the public for the growing crisis. To pick up the point Senator Finucane made regarding the national treatment fund, will all those who cannot undergo procedures due to bed closures, particularly in Dublin hospitals, be able to avail of the fund to have those procedures carried out abroad or in Northern Ireland? Does not this matter illustrate the farcical nature of the Government's management of the health service?