Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is a shocking message from Senator Clonan this morning. It is an indictment of Government failure in relation to the health service.

I have to speak of another consistent failure of the health service in Ireland, namely, University Hospital Limerick where yet another record was set yesterday when 130 patients were left on trolleys. That is the highest number ever recorded in any hospital in the State. It is hard to keep talking about these figures, as I have done for the seven and a half years I have been in the House. Clearly, the Government has not been listening. Things continue to get worse year after year. So far this October, 1,632 people have been treated on trolleys. At the same time last year, the figure was 1,268.

The total number of people treated on trolleys last year - 18,000 - will be exceeded this year. Every year the figures not only get worse; they get far worse. It is an indictment of 12 years of Fine Gael failure and seven years of Fianna Fáil failure, and a particular indictment of the current Minister for Health. He came into office promising so much but has not delivered in University Hospital Limerick.

To show how serious this matter is, according to research, over 1,300 people died unnecessarily in the health service last year as a result of being left on trolleys. The statistics show that for every 82 persons who spend more than six hours on a trolley, one will die in the following 30 days. Imagine how many unnecessary deaths we have had in Limerick because of this consistent Government failure.

It does not help that we have a Minister in denial. Earlier this year, he insisted in this House that there were only six patients on trolleys when the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, was telling us there were 78 patients on trolleys. If the Minister does not even accept the INMO figures for patients on trolleys, how on earth does he have any credibility in understanding the extent and the depth of the crisis in University Hospital Limerick?

It only makes matters worse that the Minister has since been thrown under the bus by the Minister for Finance in respect of a €2 billion shortfall in health spending. One of the key factors in this regard is the recruitment freeze. Right now, it is impossible for University Hospital Limerick to hire healthcare assistants. I know from personal experience that healthcare assistants are choosing to leave the health service because of the impossible working conditions. The staff are performing heroically but some are choosing to leave and the Government is saying the health service cannot replace them. As we head into the winter crisis, we can only see things going from bad to worse and worse again. This is an indictment of the failure of successive Governments, particularly the current Minister.

I call for an urgent debate because we cannot waste another year facing into this crisis with a Minister telling us things are getting better, as the Minister did during the summer months, when, in fact, things continue to get worse. The situation is dire. It is disastrous and a disgraceful reflection of the failures of this Government.