James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

In other words, we are not closing the door to the suggestions made. We will examine them and try to expedite them.

Regarding the national home care budget for sick children, a question was asked about a draft document which indicated we would cut left, right and centre. There is no question of medical cards being taken from people who are still entitled to have them. That would not make sense.

I will try to deal with the remaining questions asked as quickly as I can. Senator John Gilroy asked about Tallaght hospital. I want to be clear about this issue. Everybody knows that the hospital was in dire straits. Representatives of the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, and the special delivery unit were in the hospital in which we now have new management. I pay tribute to Ms Eilish Hardiman because last month the hospital stayed within its run rate for the month, notwithstanding the legacy issue. However, the hospital is in dire straits in regard to its budget. It is way over budget and there will be changes in that regard. As a result of the changes Ms Eilish Hardiman has made, on one day there were no patients on trolleys, while for several days the number on trolleys was four. When I last checked the position yesterday, there were 13 patients on trolleys at 8 a.m., nine of whom had been in the hospital for less than six hours and four for longer. By 2 p.m. there were five patients on trolleys. Therefore, great work is being done in the hospital. What we want to do — what the HSE failed to do in the past — is transpose excellence from one hospital to another. We have the team in place to do this, the SDU, which can show how things have been done in one hospital and transpose the lessons learned to another.

There is a moratorium on staff recruitment. However, we have always said we will make exceptions in particular areas where there is a need. We have done this in the case of mammography services in Sligo. We will examine the mental health issue, but there is a need for change in that service also. There are many psychiatric nurses working in institutions. We could achieve a far better effect and efficiency if institutions were closed and the nurses mentioned were working in the community. I believe they would agree with me in that regard.

I should blush at Senator John Crown's honeymoon comment.