Joe O'Toole (Independent)

If a Fine Gael Minister is responsible for health matters next year, the doctor still will not have dressings in his case when he comes out. If there were to be a Fine Gael Minister responsible for health next week, the doctor will still be saying the same thing. As MalcolmMuggeridge said before he died, I hope to be surprised. As a rational human being, that is not something for which the Minister for Health and Children can be blamed. That is my view, and if I am wrong, I am wrong. I am sorry to spoil the political fun with a statement like that.

When people arrive at an accident and emergency department for an X-ray, for example, why do these people have to queue up in one place and cause a blockage at the beginning, before having to go to another queue at X-ray? Why do these people not simply go straight into the X-ray section? Apparently that is not allowed, and these people have to go through each step, creating clogs in each of them. Such issues are not being thought out at that level. I will not get involved in the political arguments of the drink issue, but as far as I understand, drunk tanks should be in police stations. They have nothing to do with hospitals. Why can people not go directly to an X-ray unit or wherever they are going on a particular day? Why do two or three checks exist along the way?

A previous speaker discussed personal experiences. Senator Glynn mentioned the accident and emergency system in France and Senator Henry discussed the system in Spain. I had an accident in France a few years ago during a very hot summer when the accident and emergency departments were clogged with elderly people dying from the heat. It was approximately three years ago. On a Saturday night I managed to injure myself, and I promise I did not have any substance or drink in me. An ambulance was called and I was brought to the local accident and emergency service.

The accident and emergency hospital is a separate entity in France. It is not part of a general hospital but is specifically for accident and emergency services. I was taken into a mill of people at 6 p.m. on a Saturday. I was there as a punter from the street with very poor French, trying to explain exactly what had happened to my wrist. Within an hour I had an X-ray, although it was a long and painful hour. Within another half hour I was sitting down with a consultant who explained that I had a broken wrist. After another half hour I was sitting down with a surgeon, who told me the injury required an operation. I had the option of having it treated before going back to Ireland, having the operation that night or on the following Monday. I thought of accident and emergency services in Ireland.

I was admitted to a general ward in the hospital that night, and I had the operation on the Monday. I went through the system and there were a large number of people there. Everybody must have been looked after. The consultant saw me at 9 p.m. on a Saturday, and this was the difference. Somebody was there to make the decision, and a surgeon was present at 9 p.m., who was operating until about midnight that night. It may have been possible to operate that night, although the surgeon was not working on the Sunday. I do not know what the arrangements were for that.

Those are the kinds of issues we should examine. We must resolve the problems in order to ensure we get the support and structures required to make the services work. It is not a purely political issue. Money and change is required, as is direction and commitment. I am sure that if Fine Gael provides the next Minister responsible for health, he or she will also be a person of quality who will give his or her best. If that happens, Fianna Fáil will sit on this side of the House, telling me and the rest of us what a bad job the Fine Gael Minister is doing. That has gone on for 20 years and is not the way to resolve the problem.