The programme for Government commits to providing adequate resources to reduce hospital waiting lists. This week, a woman needing hospital treatment received a letter telling her that she had been put on a waiting list of in excess of 175 weeks for an appointment at the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar. That is more than three years. This woman is ill and potentially suffering from a serious blood disorder, yet she is being left with no notion of when or if she will be called for an appointment. She will face this uncertainty for anything up to three years. She is not alone, as more than 500,000 people are facing the same uncertainty on waiting lists. It is nothing short of outrageous. It should be said that Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar, is the same hospital that only last month had to issue a full capacity protocol due to dangerous levels of overcrowding. Now, this woman, who is just one of many, is being told that she may have to wait for up to three years for her appointment.

Does the Taoiseach accept that the Government has failed to deal with waiting lists at hospitals-----

Time is up, Deputy, please.

-----a crisis in which more than 500,000 people have been left waiting?

I am afraid I cannot comment on the individual case, but if what the Deputy says is correct - I have no reason to believe it is not - I am obviously sorry to hear that this patient has been asked to wait for so long. Sometimes, it is possible to get a more urgent appointment, particularly if that request comes in from her GP or from another doctor.

We have discussed this issue many times in the past. I have pointed out how, in Northern Ireland, many more people per head of population are waiting much longer, so we know Sinn Féin's record in health, Michelle O'Neill having been the last Minister of Health. We know that Sinn Féin has not delivered on health. Given the much worse situation when it comes to waiting lists in Northern Ireland, no one would possibly believe that Sinn Féin could do a better job.

However, there are areas where we are making some progress, particularly when it comes to people who are waiting for an operation or a procedure.

The Government is sending people to the North for cataract surgery-----

To Belfast.

The number of people waiting more than three months for an operation or a procedure is down by 10,000 this year compared with last year.

-----and hip replacements.

The truth always hurts, a Cheann Comhairle, which is why one always gets shouted down-----

It is not the truth. It is false.

-----but they are going to have to hear the truth. Just comparing the middle of summer 2017, when we started implementing Sláintecare, to now, the number of people waiting more than three months for a cataract surgery is down from 8,000 to 3,500.

Yes, because the Government is sending them to the North.

It has nothing to do with Sláintecare.

The number of people waiting for GI scopes has gone from 28,000 down to 14,000-----

Thanks be to God the Government took Fianna Fáil's proposal.

The number of people waiting for a hip or knee replacement-----

The Government is sending them to the North as well.

-----is down from 3,500 to 1,600, while the numbers waiting for tonsils to be removed and for an angiogram are down from 2,500 to 700, and from nearly 2,000 to 800, respectively. In all those cases, the number of people waiting for more than 12 weeks is down by half.

The National Treatment Purchase Fund.