Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I wish to highlight failures in our health system, not just in individual cases such as the woman in Tallaght Hospital Senator Feeney mentioned. Not a day passes without our reading about a serious failure in the health system which points to a fundamental problem in the management of health services in this country. I ask the Leader of the House to schedule a debate as early as possible in the new year on the management of our health services. There have been numerous reports and reforms, the Health Service Executive has been established and there are promises of improvements yet we still have horrendous waiting lists and dreadful stories such as the one in Tallaght Hospital to which Senator Feeney referred.