John Crown (Independent)

I am sure that other Senators have heard the sad news of the deaths this morning of Remi Ochlik and Marie Colvin, although most would probably be more familiar with her as a writer for The Sunday Times. She was well known and iconic. She lost an eye and wore an eye patch. She died violently in Syria this morning with Mr. Ochlik. They were two brave journalists who covered many conflict zones and highlighted the deprivation of the individuals who suffered as a result of conflict.

Will the Leader seek clarification from the Minister for Health regarding his exact plans for increasing the number of specialists, beds and operating theatres? At the risk of sounding trite, there is a wonderful line in "Jurassic Park" from the scientist who correctly predicted that it might be unwise to make dinosaurs. When they saw the dinosaurs eating the people who believed it was a good idea to make them, he stated: "I hate being right all the time." This is how I feel about the health service at times because, like a number of others, I pointed out three or four years ago that the core deficiencies in the service were related to staffing and resources. When a system has the lowest number of doctors, a shortage of operating theatres and absurdly low numbers of scanners, it will produce waiting lists. We were told that if we corrected the consultants' contracts everything would magically fit into place. That happened four years ago but the figures to which Senator Darragh O'Brien referred reveal that the number of children awaiting admission in emergency departments have increased by 700% in the past three years, which is roughly the period over which the previous Minister's reforms should have been having an impact.

This goes to show that it is not possible to put 2lbs of salami in a 1lb bag. We are being told that if we can make more efficient use of that 1lb bag we will be able put more salami into it. That is not going to happen. We have to fundamentally reorganise the way we appoint doctors at all levels and honestly assess the adequacy of current numbers of operating theatres, X-ray departments and beds. The data released by the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine reveal that the problem arises from the shortage of beds rather than the emergency rooms. They cannot get the kids out of the emergency departments and into the beds because beds have been closed.

It would be welcome if the Minister could come into the House to clarify for us his strategic vision. I have great faith in his plans to reform the system but I ask him to tell us what measures will be taken to relieve this acute shortfall in the short term.