Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed in the reply. It is like what I get at the health committee. At the last meeting of the health committee, I raised four questions to which I got answers to only two. There seems to be a problem with the HSE in the south giving the truth. The truth is not contained in this answer. The answer to the problem is to open the operating theatre five days a week, not three and half days a week, and to move towards providing additional day-case beds for patients so the hospital can turn over far bigger numbers. The response is extremely disappointing. It does not deal with the issue. What the Minister of State set out will not do one thing for the waiting list.

If something is not done immediately, within six months the waiting list will increase from 4,000 to 5,000 or 6,000. The list increases every day. There seems to be a stand off between people in different sections of the hospital, between people at the front line and those in management. The people in management do not appear to be taking the matter seriously. The Minister of State's response is inadequate and a clear message should be sent to the manager in Cork University Hospital that it is unacceptable. I will raise this again and again, next week and the week after, as long as we are sitting up to Christmas. It is not going to go away.