I raise an issue of huge concern to both my constituents in Cork South-West and people all over the country. I speak of people who have been left hurt, sick and frustrated by the incompetence and delays on the part of the Health Service Executive, HSE.

For the many reasons I will outline, elder care is at an all time low. Yesterday, a 90 year old man from Bantry, west Cork, travelled 503 km over five hours to Kingsbridge Hospital, Belfast for a cataract operation, which took place this morning. Mr. John Patrick Harrington, is, as I said, 90 years old and is a carer for his wife. He is blind in one eye and was fast losing sight in his second eye such that an urgent operation was needed. His family was told that he could wait up to four years to have the procedure carried out under the HSE. While the proposed solution, which has now taken place, was against my own principles, I discussed it with the management of Kingsbridge Hospital in the context of the cross-border health care directive. The hospital, in turn, contacted the patient in Bantry on 2 October and 23 days on, as we speak, John Patrick, had his operation carried out in what the family describe as a stunning facility, and is now on the five-hour journey home to Bantry. Does the Taoiseach accept that this is a failure of the health system in this country? Is it also a failure to care for the elderly in our country, many of whom worked tirelessly and are now left suffering and in need of simple procedures? Is it right that I am now seeking volunteer drivers from west Cork to take elderly people to Belfast for simple operations that cannot be carried out in the South of Ireland?

I also want to draw the attention of the Taoiseach to a similar matter which, again, affects our elderly. Bandon Community Hospital is a state-of-the-art facility operated efficiently by management and staff. The extension and refurbishment works ongoing at that hospital for the past year and a half were completed in August 2017 but no patient has yet been allowed pass through its doors owing to the refusal of the HSE to adequately staff it, resulting in many elderly patients who urgently require beds having to travel 40 miles to Macroom Community Hospital for a bed, a journey for which no public transport is available. The Friends of Bandon Community Hospital and the people of Bandon have fundraised hundreds of thousands of euro only to see the newly-renovated hospital lie idle while the HSE twiddles its thumbs. Is this the right way to treat elderly people in west Cork or in any part of the country?

In Bantry General Hospital, the contracts of a senior consultant, Mr. Aboghaly, and his registrar, Dr. Khan, expired two weeks ago. We now hear that interviews for their replacements have taken place in the past number of days and that replacements are imminent. Surely the HSE knew months in advance that these contracts were due to expire such that interviews could have taken place sooner. However, this did not happen and the much-needed surgical unit in Bantry hospital is now in jeopardy. Mr. Aboghaly was a consultant of excellence and his loss will have a huge affect on many elderly people in west Cork who relied on him. Again, I ask the Taoiseach, is this the right way to deal with our elderly and health care in west Cork?

I apologise but I do not have any specific information on Bandon Community Hospital or Bantry General Hospital but I will ask the Minister for Health to respond to the Deputy as soon as is possible. In regard to the individual case he raised, I am sorry to hear that the gentleman had to wait so long for his cataract operation.

He is one of thousands.

I am sure that for a long time before that, he would have been affected by loss of vision and all that comes with that, including isolation which I know can be much worse in a rural area. I am pleased to note that he was able to avail of the cross-border health care directive, which means his treatment was funded by the HSE and by the Irish taxpayer even though he had to travel to another jurisdiction for it. One of the benefits of EU membership is that people can avail of the cross-border directive. The number of people availing of it is increasing all of the time. I would like to see more people, at least, consider the option of having their treatment in another EU country and having it paid for by the Irish State. It would, of course, be preferable that people would be able to have these operations in their own counties or, at least, their own country. To try to achieve this, the Deputy will be aware that under budget 2017, funding for the National Treatment Purchase Fund was increased significantly from approximately €20 million in 2017 to €55 million in 2018. In addition to this, a further €20 million is being provided to the HSE to enable it to reopen, staff and fully equip theatres in orthopaedic, ophthalmic and ENT hospitals to allow for an increase in the volume of these procedures to be carried out, including hip, knee and cataract operations. As part of this programme, an additional 20,000 such operations will be carried out in the next year. I sincerely hope that in the months ahead men and women with conditions and problems similar to that of the gentleman mentioned will get their treatment much quicker.

The Deputy will also be aware from the National Treatment Purchase Fund statistics that the number of people waiting for an operation or inpatient procedure has fallen for two months in a row. We anticipate that when the new data are published in a week or so, they will show the numbers have fallen for three months in a row. We have a long way to go but it is encouraging that after a long time, the number of people waiting on operations is now falling again.

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. In regard to the 90 year old gentleman who, as I said, is currently on a five-hour journey to west Cork having had his operation carried out in Kingsbridge Hospital, Belfast, why is it not possible to have procedures of that type carried out in Cork or, at least in the South of Ireland? Why can our health service not treat our elderly in the same way as they can be treated in the North? Some 25 days on from when the first contact was made with Kingsbridge Hospital, the gentleman concerned has had his operation.

In regard to Bandon Community Hospital and Bantry General Hospital, I urge the Taoiseach to speak to the Minister for Health about the issue I have raised. These are two excellent centres and they need to be open to the public. We need to know the surgical unit in Bantry General Hospital is safe. Can the Taoiseach assure me today that services at the surgical unit will not be cut back and that there will be no closure of services at Bantry General Hospital, which provides treatment in a catchment area of up to 90,000 people?

As I said earlier, health care is at an all-time low. Terminally ill patients are begging for medical cards, home help hours are being cut to the bare minimum and some carers must wait months on end for their payments to come through. Often persons have passed away before a carer's allowance application has been approved. This lack of care and compassion for our elderly is unacceptable. This is all happening on the Taoiseach's watch.

When it comes to our health service, I acknowledge that we can do better. We do very well in lots of areas. It is important to recognise that and to recognise the work of our health service staff in that regard. Life expectancy in Ireland has improved considerably in recent years. This did not happen by accident. It is the result of better public health and a better health service. The number of cancer deaths is falling. The number of cardiovascular deaths by, for example, stroke and heart attack is falling considerably. Having not built any public hospitals in well over a decade, there are now three new public hospitals under construction, including the national children's hospital, the national forensic mental health hospital and the new national rehabilitation hospital in Dún Laoghaire, in respect of which I had the pleasure of turning the sod with the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, earlier this week. We now have free GP care for children under six and pensioners over 70. We are reducing prescription charges and diabetic care can now be provided in GP surgeries. We are also seeing improvements in public health in terms of the decrease in alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking. We have very good screening programmes that are much better than those in other countries, for example, around breast and colorectal and cervical cancer. There are lots of good things happening in our health service. We should be fair to people who work in health services and fair in general in acknowledging this.

The Deputy is correct that we can do better. I have outlined to him how we intend to do better when it comes to cataract procedures in particular. It is also important to point out that when it comes to people who are waiting, often the figures do not tell the full story. When it comes to the hundreds of thousands of people who are waiting for an appointment or a procedure and operation, more than half will wait less than six months and approximately one third will wait less than three months. We should aim to get to a position where it is much better than that and in which the vast majority of people wait no more than three months but we have a long way to go.

That is not right. The Taoiseach should visit Kerry to see what is happening there.