Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will reference two issues that have already been raised. I fully support the call for St. Brigid's Day as opposed to Thanksgiving Day, which would be a poor choice, frankly. We should stick to our own traditions.

I will highlight the fact that Senator Craughwell raised a very important issue. He is correct that no one has addressed it from the Government side and it is shocking. It is about time someone in the Government addressed it.

I raise the issue of University Hospital Limerick because a good friend of mine had the unfortunate experience of being there last Thursday night and into 1 October. He experienced seeing 75 patients on trolleys; bear in mind this was 1 October. Trolleys were backed up one against another and there was no social distancing whatsoever. None was possible because of the number of patients on trolleys. It was so bad that a member of the canteen staff could not enter the ward with her tea trolley. That is how chaotic and disastrous it was last Friday, with 75 patients on trolleys. It led to people getting up to help themselves to tea, which led to further chaos. What really struck my colleague was the despair not just of the patients left languishing on trolleys, but of the staff. The hospital is still understaffed, with rosters featuring people who were on holiday. On the same evening, healthcare assistants were asked to unload trolleys, not for patients but for stores. This is the chaos that has become endemic across University Hospital Limerick. I have raised this issue several times each year in the six years I have been in the House. The point is that it continues to get worse. Indeed, on Sunday night, the figure had risen to 85 people on trolleys. Fine Gael has failed on healthcare in Limerick for a decade at this stage. The problem of a lack of commitment to Sláintecare is massively connected to this. There is an ideological issue at the heart of this. We on the left believe in a national health service. It is quite clear to me from the actions of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, that the conservative parties do not. I ask for an urgent debate on the crisis in University Hospital Limerick.