Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Regrettably, I have to raise the issue of University Hospital Limerick, UHL, once again. I again emphasise the importance of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, coming to the House for a debate on the issue. The Leader will be aware that another young woman, a 16-year-old, lost her life this week in the most horrendous circumstances. It would not be appropriate for me to go into the circumstances of the case, but they have been well documented. One of the things that really bothers me about UHL is that there is a line I have got indirectly, as the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, has not come to the House to reply on Commencement matters, and then directly last week from the Minister of State, Deputy Collins. That line is that things are getting better. The backdrop to the tragedy this week is that, for the first 21 days of February, there were more than 100 people on trolleys every day. Indeed, one can go back as far as 29 January in that regard. There were more than 100 people on trolleys every day for 24 days in a row. That is the backdrop to the chaos and impossible conditions the staff have to put up with every day, yet we have a Minister who insists things are getting better. The reason he says things are getting better is that the TrolleyGAR numbers are very different from the INMO figures. For those who do not know, TrolleyGAR is a calculation whereby those who are lying on a trolley but have not yet been admitted to the hospital do not count in the figures. To be frank, that is ridiculous. It is nonsense. That, however, is the line to which the Minister is clinging as we have more and more despair from people throughout the mid-west. There is no doubt that lives are being lost. That is now generally accepted. Lives are being lost unnecessarily because of 12 years of failure and eight years of failure, respectively, by successive Governments in dealing with UHL. I once again urge the Leader to get the Minister in here for a debate in order that we can confront him with the facts.

The second issue I wish to raise relates to Julian Assange. All Senators are aware he had his High Court hearing yesterday. This may be his last chance to see whether he will have any further grounds to make a defence in order to avoid being extradited on espionage charges to the US. I have raised this issue with the Leader many times. I acknowledge that she has said positive things regarding the horrendous circumstances Julian Assange faces simply for telling the truth about war crimes, such as the horrendous "Light them up" incident in Iraq in 2007, when US troops literally gunned down civilians for the fun of it. That is why he has been tortured. It is why it now seems he will be extradited. When I hear talk of European values, I have to ask where those values are in the context of Julian Assange. This afternoon, the House will rightly debate the issue of Ukraine and I expect Alexei Navalny will rightly be mentioned. Three years ago, I and many others in this Chamber called for his release. Why do none of the Senators on the Government side ever mention Julian Assange? How can they ignore what is happening to him? Should not every right-thinking individual stand up now, like never before, and insist that Julian be freed? His only crime was to tell the truth.