Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I got quite a reaction this morning to the Taoiseach's comments in the Dáil yesterday that he did not understand the crisis in emergency departments and why it cannot be resolved. This is an incredible statement coming from the Taoiseach of our country. He listens to people talking about this every day in the Dáil and we are listening to it every day in the Seanad. One lady who contacted me this morning said there were 120 people in the emergency department again last night at Galway University Hospital. One woman was sent in as an urgent case at 5 p.m. yesterday, and at 7.30 this morning she still had not been seen and no decision had been made about her care. Is it possible that the Taoiseach could not understand that we are lacking space in the Galway emergency department and that we do not have enough nurses and doctors? That is at the front-line level. Behind all that, we have a dysfunctional system. Surely he must know this. This is our Taoiseach. He oversees the Cabinet. He has a Minister for Health there, the Minister for Health whom we were questioning last week. What difference has he made?