Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. The point is that the divergence between these figures is such that the HSE figure is simply incredible. I have a huge concern that twice in this Chamber over the past month, the Minister for Health rejected the INMO figures. He insisted there were just eight people on trolleys on 1 February when he was here and he told me that I did not have my homework done. It turns out that he has just written a note to say that he cannot attend school today. The fact he is not here is an absolute disgrace and he has bottled it. I feel sorry for the Minister of State because the fact is that everyone in Limerick knows the INMO figures are correct. Everyone knows there are more than 100 patients on hospital trolleys. Members of all parties have acknowledged it over the last couple of weeks in this Chamber. Yet, the Minister for Health is in absolute denial in relation to this issue. It is hugely disrespectful to the INMO. It is hugely disrespectful to SIPTU, to the front-line workers there in the hospital and at the very least, the Minister needs to come into this Chamber and correct the record and acknowledge that he is fundamentally wrong when it comes to the numbers of people on trolleys in UHL.