On page 59 of the programme for Government is a commitment to update the national eye care plan. A report released today by the Association of Optometrists Ireland confirms that the average waiting time for cataract surgery is 28 months and up to five years in areas like west Cork. It is more than two years since the Government promised to tackle the issue. Were it not for the cross-Border directive, the numbers waiting would be much higher. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and myself have sent bus loads of people, most of whom were in their 80s and 90s, to Belfast for cataract surgery. Children are also waiting up to 15 months for an appointment. It is nothing short of scandalous the way patients, many of whom are elderly, are being treated. I have raised this time and again in the Chamber but to no avail. It is Belfast or blind. Will the Government treat this issue with the urgency it requires and arrange for cataract surgery to be carried out in Bantry or Mallow general hospitals to reduce the waiting lists in the Munster area?

I am glad the Labour Party is now waking up to this problem but it was in power with Fine Gael for five years. People are going blind and have gone blind on this and the previous Government's watch because of delays in being treated for cataracts. The aforementioned survey refers to waiting times of between 28 months and five years but there are people in Kerry and west Cork who have been waiting even longer. I know of one man who was waiting for seven years for surgery. His grandfather had a cataract removed in 1968 in Tralee Hospital. This country is going backwards. The Government is failing these people who are going blind. Myself and Deputy Michael Collins have arranged for several buses to travel to Belfast and we have more buses ready to go. They will be going for all of this year. Whatever the Government is claiming it is doing is failing because people are not getting called to have their cataracts removed.

The National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, will be providing 20,000 procedures this year, 5,000 of which will be cataract operations. One quarter of all of the work funded by the NTPF will be devoted to cataract surgery. The number of patients waiting more than nine months is 2,800 so the NTPF will be providing procedures for more than double the number of those waiting beyond the target period.

They are going blind.

That is on top of the normal cataract service that is being provided by the HSE.

The Minister should stop digging when he is in a hole.

This issue is being prioritised by the Government through the NTPF.

It is not working in Kerry or Cork.