Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I also heard that interview on "Morning Ireland" this morning. I was very impressed by that nurse and what she had to say. She also made it quite clear that much of the problem does not lie in the accident and emergency departments. When patients are seen in that department they are now left on trolleys because there are no beds in the wards for them. A lot of it has to do with getting them into the wards.

I will always stand up for carers. If we did not have them we would have a much worse problem because the people who need step-down facilities and care would end up in residential care. The situation in hospitals would be far worse then.

I agree that the Minister for Health has to come in here at some stage to debate this issue. The Leader has told me the Minister is not available today so we cannot get him. I ask the Leader to please put it on the agenda over the next few days to try to get the Minister in here. There are a lot of important issues that need to be cleared up. In Dingle there are empty beds in a ward because of a lack of staff.There is a beautiful new facility for psychiatric services in Killarney that remains unopened because it must be furnished. The shortage of nurses and other staff is a big problem. There are two nurses sitting in the Visitors Gallery who would agree with me on the shortage of nurses. The question of how to entice or incentivise nurses to return from other countries in order that they might work here must be examined. These issues must be discussed with the Minister for Health so I ask the Leader to invite him to come before the House at his earliest convenience.