Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Labour Party, I want to pay my respects to the families of the late Annmarie O'Brien and that of the children who lost their lives in the horrific circumstances of a fire in Clondalkin yesterday. Our collective hearts go out to all of the people who loved and knew them. We wish those people who were caught up in the fire a speedy recovery.

I join with my colleague, Senator Ruane, in paying tribute to Joe McGouran who I learned this morning had passed away. He was a well known supporter of the rights of working people in this city. He was a truly great character who had a particular affinity for the Mandate trade union. Recently he was on the picket line to support the Tesco workers. Therefore, it is appropriate that we honour him here today in the national Parliament. I thank the Senator for her kind remarks.

I support Senator Boyhan's view on the redress scheme and his call to discuss the contents of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. A shoddy deal was done by the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and the former education Minister, Dr. Michael Woods, with the religious institutions in this country. The institutions have an absolute sin to answer for in terms of how they behaved and the abuse that many orders visited upon young people in this country over centuries. The institutions have been given a free pass. They have played a game of cat and mouse with this State in terms of their obligations in the redress scheme. The shoddy deal was done a couple of decades ago and it deal gave the church a free pass.

For days on end in January and February we discussed the crisis in the health service and the waiting lists in response to the "Prime Time" programme entitled "Living on the List". Over the past few weeks, and while we debated the waiting lists, the outpatient hospital waiting list grew by 11,000. This morning I was struck by an article that I read in the Irish Independent. The article featured an interview with a constituent of mine called Ms Caroline Sherwin who is a mother of two children. Even though she had a lymph node lump it appears that she was passed down the waiting list. She took the opportunity to stage a sit-in protest at my local hospital which is Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. She waited to be seen and treated. She felt that she had to take the situation into her own hands and did not accept being pushed further down the waiting list for emergency treatment. A surgery was performed and it probably saved her life. What does that tell us about the state of the health service?

We all agree in this House that we need a better way to tackle public waiting lists. We have repeatedly discussed the matter in this House and the Lower House. One solution was the fast-tracking of treatment through the National Treatment Purchase Fund, surgery, etc. I understand that such work has yet to happen. I ask the Leader to inform us about the current status of the additional cash injection into the National Treatment Purchase Fund for surgery that can, in many ways, be a lifesaver.