The Taoiseach has just told the House how much better off the public finances are than had been anticipated. I want to tell the House about a man from Ballybunion called Tony O'Gorman who drove to my clinic on 7 April to tell me about his wife, who had been diagnosed as a multiple sclerosis sufferer and who has been awaiting the implantation of a Baclofen pump for two years because she is in permanent pain. She has been on morphine for nine months. My office and I have done everything we can. We have been in touch with the Minister, the hospital, the consultant, the Minister's office and the Health Service Executive but nothing has happened.

I will outline the situation to the House in Mr. O'Gorman's own words in a letter he wrote to me on 24 May:

As you previously know, Breda is disimproving by the day and at this stage, even to put her into bed or take her out, she is in cruel agony and ends up in tears morning and night. She has the district nurse and an assistant to take her up in the morning and to do normal procedures like washing her and dressing her pressure sores, which are not improving, only getting worse — it is very near to the bone — in time. As the infection in the sore is not decreasing it could very easily turn to gangrene which could be the cause of Breda losing a leg if action is not taken in time.

Every morning she is removed from the bed to the wheelchair and has to be moved from chair to chair several times a day in order to get relief from the pain and the spasms. This is an awful discomfort to her on a daily basis. She remains in this state every day and is unable to go anywhere as the pain would be too much.

As you previously know, she is taking 30 tablets a day and is so confused from these tablets that she is sleeping nearly 24 hours now. When she wakes it takes her a while to register where she is, forgetting a lot of every day things. She also has a pump on her which dispenses a drug called midazolam. This drip is injected into her 24 hours a day. This is to relieve spasm but she is only too prone to the tablets now and to the drip that it has occurred that they have no effect on her anymore. My daughter, who also cares for her, puts her to bed at night and found Breda to be stiffening in her upper body. That is due to the lack of physiotherapy. The procedure of physio cannot be started until she has the pump implanted, and her arms have weakened in the last few months also. We have tried everything at this stage and in our opinion we have nothing to lose if this goes public.

The Deputy's time has concluded.

He goes on to ask me to raise the matter in the Dáil. That was on 24 May. I did not do so because I felt that private discussions with the hospital, the consultant and the Minister might be more successful. This is the last Leaders' Questions before the summer recess. If we have as much money as the Taoiseach says, why can this woman not get some relief from constant pain and have that appointment made at Cork University Hospital?

The Government has cut back on home help and everything else.

I appreciate Deputy Rabbitte raising this matter. If he had spoken to me about it beforehand I could have checked it and tried to find out some details. I do not want to add to the discomfort of the O'Gorman family but if I can add my weight to try to do something for them I will do so. I have no knowledge of the case whatsoever. I do not know what has happened or what the pump is.

That is what the Taoiseach is presiding over.

I do not know what the medical condition is but I will be glad to examine the individual case.

I appreciate that the Taoiseach does not have any detail on the case and cannot be expected to comment on it. However, all the details that came to my clinic from Kerry on 7 April were sent to the Tánaiste, the hospital and all the other authorities. They know the detail inside out. On a number of occasions, Mr.O'Gorman offered to pay for the particular pump referred to. For some reason that is beyond me, however, the procedure has not been carried out. Everything they have tried has failed. When we raise the issue of the health services in a general way people have grown accustomed to it, but behind every ventilation of grievances aboutthe health services a family is affected. The O'Gormans are one such family.

The Deputy's time has concluded.

Nobody in a civilised society should be expected to live in the circumstances in which Mrs. O'Gorman is condemned to live. Any civilised society would seek to alleviate her pain and suffering. It is a terrible commentary that, in the midst of all the wealth the Taoiseach detailed to Deputy Kenny, we cannot seem to deal with cases like this.

All I can do is check into the individual case and try to be helpful to the people involved. On the general point concerning staff, 130,000 people work in our health service every day. They deal with approximately 1 million people per year. One of the nice things about being Taoiseach is the letters I receive from families all over the country acknowledging and praising everything from coronary and cancer operations to complicated gynaecological procedures, as well as heart and lung transplants. These procedures are carried out by health service staff every day, using the vast resources we are able to give them from taxpayers and the economy generally in order to improve matters.

I will not attempt to understand the background to the pump the Deputy mentioned. I do not know why it could not be provided, nor what the clinical assessment was. Neither do I know why it had not happened after the Tánaiste's office was informed on 24 May. Like all these matters, when one checks them there is some reason behind it. Deputy Rabbitte has given an undertaking to examine the matter on behalf of a decent family. Mr. O'Gorman is obviously concerned about his wife, Breda. The Deputy has raised the issue here and I will show due respect to that family by checking on the matter. I will let Deputy Rabbitte know what I can find out.