Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

When will a special package of measures be brought forward by the Government and the Minister for Health and Children to address the crisis in accident and emergency departments? Is this not a scandal, given that the Government has been in office for eight years? This is why the public is rising up over the performance of the Government on this issue. Eight years into office the situation has worsened. There is a chronic shortage of acute beds in our hospitals and, on a daily basis, up to 20% of people in Dublin hospitals are long-stay patients who need step-down facilities. Will the Government consider providing emergency funding for beds in private nursing homes to deal with the capacity issue head on? Does the Leader agree that a full audit of facilities in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway needs to be conducted to ensure additional bed capacity is provided for long-stay patients? This issue must be dealt with and, eight years later, now is the time to do so. A package of measures must be brought forward urgently.

The House will support and offer sympathy to the family of Margaret Hassan, the latest kidnap victim in Iraq. She was born in Ireland, although she has been an Iraqi citizen for the past number of years, and she has done tremendous work. We should send our support to her family at this difficult time. It is an immense contradiction that the group responsible for the murder of Mr. Bigley a number of weeks ago argued that Iraqi women were being detained unlawfully. Ms Hassan is an Iraqi woman who is being unlawfully detained in Iraq and she should be released forthwith.