There is a firm commitment in the programme for Government to resource our hospitals. Last week, I spoke to a lady who was waiting for almost a month to get a report on an MRI scan before it could be sent to her specialist. The MRI scan was done in the same hospital. It only had to go 100 m up the corridor, yet it took a month to do this because there are not enough radiologists to read and report the scans. The key issue here is that when someone goes on holidays, when somebody is sick or there is a problem of some sort, staffing vanishes and the service vanishes with it. There needs to be a huge emphasis on providing for cover in those situations and ensuring that they are properly resourced.

I thank Deputy Kenny for the question. If he wants to send me the details as a specific case, I would be happy to ask the HSE to look into it. In general, the Government is both increasing staffing levels and funding to the health service following on from the moratorium put in place by previous Governments.