Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence. I will share an incident one might consider local but it is a symptom of our health system. On Monday there were 81 people on trolleys in University Hospital Galway. One of those patients has severe dementia and she was on a trolley for two days. She did not even know where she was. Her husband, who is almost 80 years of age, told me he did not want any special treatment from me. He was not even looking for a bed from me for her, but he said he had one message he wished me to bring to the Parliament, which is that the patient must come before the system.

We are now asking for debates for after the recess. This problem will not go away over the holidays. I ask to have the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, in this House for a serious debate on our health system. Some 70% of all healthcare costs come from five chronic illnesses, namely, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, chronic lung disease and cancer. Many of the admissions result from exacerbation of those chronic illnesses. If they were treated in the community at earlier stages, through investment in our primary health care systems, we would have an answer to our problems in accident and emergency departments. I know we are looking to extend our accident and emergency department in Galway, but that will not get to the root of our problems. I ask the Leader to honour that debate in the autumn.

I wish to follow up with one key point. I am disturbed and I am sure everyone else in this House is disturbed, whether they are pro-choice, pro-abortion or pro-life, at the thought of the sale of baby parts from abortions in the United States by Planned Parenthood. I have one question. The Irish Family Planning Association has received €500,000 from Planned Parenthood over the past three years. Does the Irish Family Planning Association support the sale of baby organs by Planned Parenthood? Will the Leader find out the answer to that question? This link must be explained. I expect outrage on this issue. I am terribly disturbed, first, at the thought of the baby's life being taken because the baby is aborted and, second, that the baby becomes a commercial commodity. Let us stand up for humanity and the right to life of the unborn.