Phil Prendergast (Labour)

The Department of Finance reported today that one of its officials took part in 16 trips abroad with the HSE skills training fund. These trips included Australia and New York, and some of the trips took place over the week around St. Patrick's Day. An audit has found that there was no particular reason for these trips. Let me inform the House of the situation in some of our hospitals this morning where front-line staff have been cut and the Minister refuses to lift the moratorium. As of 8 a.m. today, 35 people are waiting on trolleys in Beaumont Hospital, 17 in the Mater, and 49 in Cork University Hospital.