Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House and making time for this issue. Mark Twain spoke about statistics being pliable and the facts being stubborn. The facts are that the position regarding accident and emergency departments is disastrous. I know the Minister said we are resorting to personal attacks but we are doing our job as members of the Opposition. We are pointing out where the system is failing, so we are not being personal with the Minister. We are asking the Minister to do his job. We are not asking him to be the commentator-in-chief or an apologist for the HSE, which seems to be the role he has assumed. That was pointed out on "The Late Debate" by all four commentators of varying hues, with one saying that if only he was a Deputy and a member of the Cabinet, he might be able to fix the system. We are asking Deputy Varadkar to be the Minister for Health. We are not saying that what he is doing in his capacity is good enough and we think he should do more and do better. He is not the victim and the victims are those on trolleys. This is not a personal attack on the Minister but we do not want him to be the victim-in-chief either. We want him to fix the system.

The victims are on the trolleys or waiting for emergency ambulances. A HSE report pointed out that because Ireland is such a rural country, it is accepted that ambulances will not get there on time. Senator Moloney and I know that happens in Kerry, as every month there is a story about an ambulance not arriving in time. It happens in Kerry and Roscommon and we see it every day of the week. Ambulances are not showing up, let alone getting to an accident and emergency department. Sometimes they show up too late and the patients are the victims. This is not a personal attack and our job is to be the Opposition, highlight what is going wrong in the system and seek solutions. We are not the people who can make the solutions happen.

Accident and emergency departments are not working. January is approaching and we all know what happens in January. The HSE is hiding the problem. When the Minister visited Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, they moved beds out of accident and emergency departments into the wards and returned them to the department when he left. Any Government with its own health service hiding beds when the Minister arrives would be straight out of "Yes, Minister". It is happening, which is a sad reality. Not only is the HSE hiding the facts, it is hiding patients when the Minister visits a hospital.I am sure one hell of a job was done at Tallaght Hospital when he visited. Everybody was put into a broom closet and hidden away. If he went back-----