David Norris (Independent)

I have damn-all sympathy for them. There is a question of our own behaviour as citizens. The health service has changed. I listened to the Tánaiste on the monitor in my office and she mentioned the time when one used to ring up and ask which hospital was on call. It would have been either the Mater Hospital or St. Vincent's Hospital, in the north and south of the city. Now there are six hospitals on call. Much of this is the result of riotous behaviour at the weekends, which must also be addressed.

There are safety issues in accident and emergency departments that need to be addressed. I am aware that the issue of safety is problematic and that accident and emergency departments should be there for traumatic situations where there is perhaps a justified panic on the part of the patient or relatives. These are precisely the circumstances in which safety issues must be managed. The idea of having locked doors, barred access or trolleys clogging up accident and emergency departments is ridiculous. What would happen if there was a fire or if an armed individual under the influence of drugs managed to get in? Hospitals would definitely need to be able to clear passageways and evacuate people then.

Somebody remarked — it could have been a slip of the tongue — that 1 million people per day visited accident and emergency departments. If that figure was true, it would be mind-boggling. I think it is actually 1.25 million people per year. Even that is——