Seven weeks ago during Leaders' Questions, I raised the shocking treatment of the elderly in this country. Little did I know then the can of worms I would open. John Patrick Harrington, a 90-year-old man, left Bantry for a 1,000 km round trip to Kingsbridge Hospital in Belfast for a cataract operation, which was arranged in three weeks, whereas had he waited in Ireland, he would have had to wait three to four years. Since the story broke we have heard of consultants working 13 hours per week, and of women forced to sell jewellery and personal belongings to have a 20-minute simple cataract procedure. More than 8,000 people are seeking that simple procedure. Next Saturday, a bus full of older people will leave west Cork and Kerry for Belfast for cataract operations under the cross-border directive. The 13 people who will have operations on Sunday morning range in age from 65 to 90 years. Their greatest worry is they will go blind, as many getting the bus have waited for three years and cannot wait any longer. This is the first of many buses organised from Cork and Kerry. The next bus will be in early January and another will follow at the end of January.

I ask the Taoiseach whether this is the right way to treat some of the most vulnerable people in our society, who did get up early in the morning, who paid PRSI all of their lives and who, sadly, now realise it was all for nothing as the State would let them go blind rather than perform a 20-minute procedure. These law-abiding taxpayers, who contributed all of their lives to their community and the tax system, now realise it is a choice of going to Belfast this weekend or going blind.

Recently, a constituent contacted me regarding the situation whereby the person's father has been cared for by the person 24-7 for 11.5 years following a devastating major stroke. The person's father recently transferred to a long-term care facility. It has now come to light that he is 100% blind in one eye and has only 30% sight in the other. This gentleman has lost his speech and ability to walk. Does he now have to face losing his sight also? He worked all of his life, paid PRSI and contributed greatly to his community. He is not well enough to be able to travel to Belfast. He has a medical card and private health insurance but there is nowhere for him to have this simple procedure urgently in County Cork. Does this seem fair to the Taoiseach?

Since my previous contribution on Leaders' Questions, I mentioned Bantry General Hospital and the major concerns the public had regarding the retirement of a surgical consultant. Thanks to raising the issue on the floor of the Chamber, the issue has been resolved. Bantry General Hospital is renowned for the excellent service it provides to the population it serves. Why must a bus leave Bantry at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning when a state-of-the-art theatre, which only recently received a major upgrade, is only partially used? Why can these simple procedures not be carried out in Bantry instead of inflicting this long and hard journey on older people? The theatre capacity available at present could be constructively used to address the backlog of cataract procedures in County Cork and parts of Kerry.

Since I spoke on this issue seven weeks ago, I have met credit union managers all over west Cork to secure loans for those who need them and who are travelling to Belfast. I have also met the Cork University Hospital group managers. These meetings have all helped me to progress this matter. What has the Taoiseach done to help the 8,000 vulnerable Irish people who face the bleak prospect of going blind on his watch? Has he met and engaged with the ophthalmologists who can work towards resolving the situation? Has he spoken to the HSE regarding a funding allocation for other hospitals similar to Bantry General Hospital throughout the country, which could provide theatre time to address the national backlog of cataract procedures?

I thank Deputy Collins. To answer his question, it is not the right way to treat our citizens. Nobody should have to wait for long periods for any procedure and certainly not a cataract procedure which, as the Deputy knows, can save people's sight, allowing them to maintain their independence and, in many cases, avoid further injuries that can occur because of sight loss.

What are we doing about it? We are doing quite a lot when it comes to cataracts. The Deputy mentioned that people are travelling to Northern Ireland and other countries. That is not happening by chance. It is part of the cross-border directive, a European law to which we signed up as a Government whereby we fund people to have their treatment in Belfast, Derry and Enniskillen in the United Kingdom so they can have their treatment done more quickly overseas, even if it means us paying another Government or another health administration to do so. That is something we have signed up to and something we now fund. In addition to this, we have been increasing funding for the National Treatment Purchase Fund. Funding has increased from approximately €20 million this year and will rise to €50 million next year. This is already showing considerable results. The Deputy may have noticed from the figures released on Friday that for four months in row, the number of people waiting for a hospital procedure, operation or scope has decreased. The number of people waiting has fallen from a high of 86,000 earlier this year to 80,595 now, at the end of November. More than 56% of patients are now waiting less than six months for their procedure. That is four months in a row during which the number of people waiting for operations and procedures has fallen and we will continue to resource both the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund in order that we keep seeing the number of people waiting for hips, knees, cataracts and other operations falling. It will not be done like it was in the past. We will not just throw money at it for a few months and knock a bunch of people off the waiting list and then see it rise again.

That is not in the past.

What we are going to see from now on is consistent steady falls in the number of people waiting.

I do not have the exact figures for cataracts. I had them on me last week but I do not have them to hand now. The number of people waiting for cataract procedures has fallen very considerably. I do not know whether it is down by 25% or 50%. That may not be enough for the individuals mentioned by the Deputy but we are making a lot of progress and we are getting there and I hope the Deputy recognises this.

No progress.

I thank the Taoiseach and I appreciate his honesty in saying it is not right. It certainly is not right for people to be travelling in bus loads out of the Republic, and out of places such as west Cork and up to Belfast. It is truly scandalous treatment of our elderly. I ask the Taoiseach to address this serious issue and grave situation regarding 8,000 Irish citizens accessing a cataract procedure. This is such a serious and urgent issue I ask the Taoiseach kindly to address the areas of concern for so many vulnerable people in the country. Do they have to continue to undertake the stressful long journey to Belfast to have this procedure carried out? Can we not find provision in our HSE service delivery plans to factor in addressing the lengthy waiting list for this procedure? This procedure does not block beds and is a simple day procedure that could be carried out in some of the theatres that are available in Ireland where capacity for theatre time exists. This 15 to 20-minute procedure should be made simple to access for those people who require a basic cataract procedure urgently to save them from going blind and being further isolated from society.

We are at a situation now, at long last, when it comes to operations, procedures and scopes - not outpatients admittedly because we are still not making much progress there - where we have seen a fall for four months in a row in the number of people waiting for operations and procedures. We are at a situation now where one third of people wait less than three months and more than half of people wait less than six months. I would like to get to the point where we are a normal country with a normal public health service and we do not have very many people at all waiting more than three months. There will often be people waiting six, eight or 12 weeks, even people with the best and most expensive private health insurance packages, but I would like to get to the point where the number of people waiting more than three months really starts to fall dramatically. That is what we are aiming to achieve.

In terms of resourcing cataracts ophthalmology in particular, a new theatre was opened in July in the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, which is not far from here. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, carried out the opening. I mentioned what we are doing with the National Treatment Purchase Fund and on paying for treatment overseas.

I do not know the details about Bantry. The availability of a theatre is not necessarily a solution in itself as it is necessary to have ophthalmologists and ophthalmic surgeons who can carry out the procedure and nurses and other personnel who are trained in aftercare. The last thing one wants is to have a procedure carried out by somebody who is not qualified and the patient then being nursed by somebody who is not used to recognising when something has gone wrong in somebody's eye. There can be serious issues when one tries to do things like that. However, the Government is focusing on people who have to wait more than three months and six months for operations and procedures. We are starting to see results and we will see more in the coming year.