Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I join others in passing on my sympathies to the Jackman family. I had the pleasure of meeting Mary on a couple of occasions. She was a very dedicated local and national representative and a fine person as well.

It is said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. For the past six years I have had the privilege of being here, I have raised the matter of University Hospital Limerick and each time I have done that, nothing has changed. Each time the result has been the same, which is no change. It is interesting to note the way Leaders in the Chamber have changed over the years, however. Initially, the Leader would have argued with me and said things would get better. Then another Leader would have stopped arguing and expressed concern. Most recently, the concern expressed by the Leader seems to have changed to bewilderment.

The reality is that yesterday UHL set a new record. In April, it had 1,735 people on trolleys and in May that has increased to 1,823. The number has increased by nearly 100 in what are supposed to be summer months. My question is simple; after all these years of raising UHL in this Chamber, and each time seeing the position get worse and worse, where is the political accountability? That is what is missing. We have not had a Government act in the way it should.

I say very clearly that we need fundamental change at the top of UHL. The people of Limerick and the mid-west have suffered for far too long and I am sick to the back teeth of raising this matter. I would much rather raise others. I am in despair. As has been mentioned, the hospital even lost a patient the other day. My colleague, Deputy Maurice Quinlivan, highlighted that case yesterday in the press because the family expressly asked him to do so. When will we see fundamental change and, by extension, when will we see political accountability that we need to see from this Government? The people of Limerick have been waiting for more than a decade to see fundamental change at the UHL and each time this Government has failed them. We need a different result and we need it now.