I am glad to welcome the Taoiseach and his motley crew back into this arena. No matter what way the Taoiseach looks at it, the health service is in crisis and the Government still does not appear to understand what it should do to sort that out. Every day, on average, 250 people lie on trolleys in hospital corridors while 29,000 are waiting to see consultants and 40,000 operations have been cancelled. Earlier, St. James's Hospital, which is one of the best and busiest in the country, had to cancel operations again because there are not sufficient intensive care beds and patients who are sick are being cared for in high dependency beds following the cancellation of serious operations. After ten years of this carry on from the Government parties who have always talked about their plans, two words sum them up — wasting and waiting. They have wasted the people's money and when they are sick, they make them wait even longer. For some, unfortunately, that is the last thing they do.
The Government's response is absolute silence while the HSE's response is to ask hospital management to explain why these difficulties have resurfaced at this time. When one talks to somebody who has prepared for a serious operation and who finds it has been postponed, one can understand the depth of feeling and anger. The fundamental issue, which has not been addressed by the Government parties over the past ten years, is bed capacity. In 2001, 3,000 additional beds were promised together with an end to waiting lists by 2004. These were false promises and these commitments have not been, and will not be, honoured. What would the Taoiseach like to say to the 20 people whose operations were cancelled earlier or the 29,000 people who are waiting to see consultants or the 40,000 whose operations have been cancelled? What will the Government do about this?