Sixteen years ago today, the then Minister for Health and Children, Ms Mary Harney, stated that a national emergency should be declared in relation to our accident and emergency units. Ms Harney stated at the time, it "is not acceptable to the public, not acceptable to me, and not acceptable to the HSE" but 15 years on, we have over 2,000 patients waiting on trolleys in our hospitals and, in regards to ICU beds, we have fewer than half of OECD rates. I say this very genuinely but what does it say about Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in government and about our priorities as a country in regard to those statistics? If the Government was a business, it would be run out of town. These reveal a national shambles in relation to people who are seeking public healthcare. Can the Taoiseach stand over those figures?

First, in the past year and nine months, exceptional public support has been given to health, with over €4 billion in last year's budget, some of which was obviously within the context of Covid. The largest number of beds created in any one year was last year when 900 plus public beds were provided. That will continue to be extended into 2022. Increased capacity will continue. Unprecedented investment continues to be put into the public health system but also better innovation and reforms in terms of the flow through hospitals. Five million home care hours were provided last year, for example, in respect of that.

There are 273 today on trolleys, not 2,000. We can check that but investment in capacity is key.