Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate on this motion. Much of what has been said hurts people on a particular side of the House. However, that happens when one speaks of statistics and facts. It is no secret that our health service is at the point of collapse not because of a lack of funding but because of sheer bad management. The management shown by Government in this sector is nothing short of appalling.

Senator Bradford rightly pointed out a worrying trend in the contributions from the Government side, namely the belief on its part that nothing is wrong. That is frightening. An accident and emergency unit at Cork University Hospital built at a cost of €16 million has not yet been opened because the Minister has not allocated funding for the appointment of staff. There is no defence in that regard. It is a little simplistic for the Minister to waltz in here and blame trade unions for it. If there is a recognition of a failing in the system surely it cannot be linked to a trade union. This Minister has presided over a sham of a health service for the past four years. When presented with proof that his lack of managerial ability fails in his own backyard and fails abysmally the people in Cork city and county, he blames the trade unions. That is simplistic and disgraceful.

A consultant hired by the health board stated that 35 staff would be sufficient to operate the unit. I understand funding for the equipment needed is on stream. However, there is no timeframe as to when funding for the provision of staff will be made available. Until such time as it is made available this unit, like others, will remain idle. This problems does not exist in Cork city alone; it is a nationwide problem. Some €460 million worth of facilities nationally are lying idle. They include a €96 million wing at James Connolly Memorial Hospital; a €24 million surgical unit at Clonmel General Hospital; a €10 million orthopaedic unit at Mayo General Hospital; a €48 million health centre in Ballymun and a €16 million unit at Cork University Hospital. That is frightening.

Senator Cummins highlighted the case, which was dismissed by Government Members, of a man occupying a trolley at Tallaght Hospital, going to the toilet and returning to find another person on the trolley. If this matter were not so serious, it would be funny. Are we now to have a waiting list for trolleys? The manner in which the Government has attempted to dress up and disguise a serious trend once confined to weekends and seasons, but now permanent is despicable and disgraceful. I am not an expert on any particular element of the health service. The Government is showing contempt to organisations such as the Irish Nurses Organisation, which has experience of the extent of the crisis. It is time for the Minister and Government to sit up and listen when it states that the situation is worse than it has ever witnessed or than people have ever experienced.

Why are 750 nursing positions vacant? I am glad Senator Leyden has returned to the House but he missed Senator Feeney's eloquent defence of the Hanly report. Perhaps the Minister will tell the House when it is proposed to close the accident and emergency units at the hospitals in Bantry, Nenagh, Ennis and, in Senator Leyden's bailiwick, Roscommon?