I wish to ask about the ongoing situation in South Tipperary General Hospital and the general crisis in accident and emergency departments. South Tipperary General Hospital, formerly known as St. Joseph's and still called that in Clonmel, which the Minister, Deputy Harris, has visited, is a very old hospital.

First, I wish to salute and pay tribute to the front-line staff - doctors and nurses - all other staff and the management for the tremendous work they do there on a daily basis in appalling conditions. They see no end to or relief from the chronic overcrowding, the bed crisis and the lack of capacity. The hospital just does not have the capacity to deal with the influx of patients, especially since the accident and emergency department in Nenagh was closed. The hospital has a huge catchment area which includes parts of Deputy Mary Butler's constituency of Waterford. The situation is at crisis point.

The Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, visited recently and there was a promise of a patient hotel. It never arrived and we knew that it would not because there had not even been planning meetings about it. We had the announcement eight days ago of 11 extra beds in an alcove off a corridor. It now transpires that they are not beds but trolleys that will just be shoved into an alcove and patients will be left there, in many cases without blankets or pillows. Patients have to use their own coats. I have seen elderly men and women with no pillows and family members going out to buy some for them. It is appalling - the conditions are almost Third World-like.

I appeal to the Tánaiste and the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, to do something. Is the latter going to end up like his predecessor, Deputy Leo Varadkar, totally captured by the HSE officials? Deputy Varadkar has escaped, has gotten a new lease of life and freedom and the best of luck to him. He was captured by the officials, as is the current Minister. Every parliamentary question that is submitted to the Department of Health is sent to the HSE for answer while we have all of these scandals, one after the other.

The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, visited the hospital in Cashel and was shocked at the conditions there. We were told that less than €15 million was spent there. However, the Committee of Public Accounts decided this morning to investigate it at my request because €22.4 million was spent but it is a patient-free zone. No patient will be allowed into that hospital. There are no beds and even the lift was removed. There is something rotten in the state of Denmark with regard to the HSE.

Two former Ministers for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar and Senator James Reilly, said that the HSE would be disbanded, as did two former taoisigh, former Deputies Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen. Somebody has to take control of the HSE because, as I have said numerous times, it is an organisation that is unfit for purpose. It has cannibalised itself with officialdom and is not serving the public. The patient seems to be the last person that is considered or respected by the HSE and the situation in Cashel demonstrates that quite clearly. Cashel is only 15 miles from Clonmel. We were promised step-down beds in Cashel to relieve the pressure on the hospital in Clonmel but instead of that, it was stripped of all its medical and surgical equipment. Even the lift was removed. The patient seems to be the last person in whom we are interested. Officials are ruling the roost.

I recognise the points the Deputy has made with regard to the challenges being faced in Clonmel. One of the key targets of the various health initiatives, particularly the €40 million initiative announced by the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, is to reduce delayed discharges nationally from a high of 695 earlier in 2016 to fewer than 500. The HSE has exceeded this target. It is very important that we recognise that because home care packages are being supplied, people are able to leave hospital, thus taking away some of the pressure.

Of course, there have been some initiatives taken in the hospital to which the Deputy refers. Extra beds have been provided, the emergency department has been extended and the community intervention teams have been further supported. However, challenges remain. Since the start of the winter initiative over 7,500 patients have availed of the services of community intervention teams meaning that many were, in the first instance, able to avoid hospital while others were discharged earlier. Over 1,000 of the aforementioned 7,500 patients got extra services. Under the initiative 670 additional home care packages were provided and 330 extra transitional care beds have been approved since early October 2016. Extra step down beds have also been provided in a number of hospitals.

The Government, like everyone in this House, is keenly aware of the challenges, particularly in our emergency departments.

A range of initiatives has been announced to improve the situation. We have a reduction in the number of people on trolleys but it is still too high. It has reduced from the high of recent weeks. Other initiatives being taken may benefit the situation described by Deputy McGrath, for example, the utilisation of private hospital capacity to support some public hospitals, additional access to diagnostic services for GPs and supporting nursing homes in the challenges they face at present. It is hoped these initiatives will ease the situation. The Minister has been seriously examining and addressing the very situation outlined by the Deputy, which is affecting Clonmel.