Ashbourne Community School is with us in the Gallery. It is very welcome.

As we speak, hundreds of nurses are meeting in Killarney in the middle of a prolonged and ongoing crisis in our hospitals. The health service is on its knees and has been for many years now. There is overcrowding on our hospital corridors, waiting lists are out of control and staff are exhausted and demoralised. Healthcare staff are at their wits' end. They have been crying out for support, but so many feel abandoned and let down by the Government's failure to get to grips with the crisis in our healthcare system. Yesterday, 704 people were lying on trolleys as they waited for care. Today, 712 people lie on trolleys. This was a predictable surge following a bank holiday weekend. In fact, this has happened on each one of the five bank holidays we have had this year. It could have been predicted and planned for.

The factors that sustain the overcrowding crisis are clear. We still do not have enough beds in the system and there are not enough staff to service those beds. Experts have warned how dangerous this is in terms of patient safety. We can add to this the chronic lack of community recovery beds, hundreds of delayed discharges and a crisis in GP provision. This means patients do not get seen when and where they need to and end up in overcrowded hospitals. Poor planning, poor leadership and a lack of investment have crippled the healthcare system. It is patients who are left to pay the price. Hard-working staff are demoralised, are trying their best day in and day out and are leaving the system in significant numbers. In fact, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, has warned today that three out of four nurses it surveyed have considered quitting their jobs. That is an extraordinary and astonishing figure. What is the response of the Taoiseach to that? I suppose we might say it is no wonder given the pressure they are under because crisis has become the norm on the Government's watch. It is the new normal that patients and staff are subjected to every day. People at their most vulnerable are left on trolleys or languishing on waiting lists and often miss crucial care. This has not happened by accident, but because of Government failure to invest sufficiently in healthcare capacity and staffing over the past decade. The response of the Government has consistently been far too slow. It is often big on promises but very short on delivery.

Cuireann géarchéim an róphlódaithe sna hospidéil othair i mbaol. Tá altraí ag obair thar a bheith crua cheana féin i gcúinsí thar a bheith deacair. Theip ar an Rialtas acmhainní a chur ar fáil go tapa agus is é sin atá ag croílár na faidhbe. Persistent and growing hospital overcrowding can be solved, but only with a multi-annual capacity expansion plan, for which Sinn Féin has called for some time. It could make a real difference to patients and workers.

There are considerable challenges but a big change could be made, with determination and the will to deliver real and meaningful difference. When will the Government support and resource hospitals to reach safe staffing levels in the short term? Will the Minister for Health publish a multi-annual capacity plan, including bed targets and detailing how he proposes to deliver the staff needed to tackle overcrowding? I ask the Taoiseach again for his response to that INMO survey and the reported finding that three out of four nurses surveyed have considered quitting their roles. How much worse does it have to get before the Taoiseach's Government gets its act together and gets to grips with what is a very real crisis?

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of the various challenges that affect our health service. As somebody who has worked in the public health service for seven years and has served as Minister for Health and as Taoiseach, I am not in any denial about the challenges faced by patients or staff in our health service. There are certainly too many patients waiting too long to see a specialist or get the procedure that they need. We have a chronic problem of emergency department overcrowding. However, we should not ignore the many very good things about our health service. I am disappointed the Deputy could not find even ten or 20 seconds in her remarks to acknowledge some of the successes of our health service and some of the high-quality health services provided by our healthcare professionals, including our nurses and midwives.

We have now, in Ireland, the longest life expectancy in the European Union. The young people who are here from Ashbourne Community School are likely to live longer than anyone else in the EU and that is in part down to the quality of our health service. People face real difficulties getting access to it, but there is real quality and there are very good patient outcomes once people access it. We have the highest life expectancy in the EU. We should be proud of having achieved that as a nation. I am sorry the Deputy was not able to acknowledge it.

We have dramatically improving outcomes for patients when it comes to stroke, heart attack and cancer, outperforming the NHS both in Northern Ireland and in Britain on patient outcomes and doing so by quite a distance. We are now seeing waiting times fall. We set out very clearly in the Sláintecare report that nobody should wait more than ten to 12 weeks for an operation he or she needs, or to see a specialist. It varies from month to month, but the number of patients waiting for longer than ten to 12 weeks has been coming down, whereas in most countries we have seen that going up. I think that is significant. We anticipate the number will fall further this year. We are also making real improvements on affordability, especially as it relates to reducing the cost of medicines, free contraception, expanding GP visit cards and bringing in funding for IVF this year. Thus, real change is being made in affordability.

The Deputy mentioned the issue of capacity. We have a capacity review. It has been published already and we are implementing it. Since this Government came to office, approximately 1,000 additional hospital beds and hundreds of additional community beds have been added to the system. They are needed because of our rising population, our ageing population and all of the new treatments that are now available to our patients. We have more people working in our public health service than ever was the case before. That includes approximately 6,000 more doctors, nurses and midwives since this Government came to office. There is a very real challenge in recruiting and retaining staff, but we are increasing the number of staff we have, including front-line staff such as doctors, nurses and midwives, every year. That is what the Government is doing and we are continuing to develop and improve on that plan as the years go on.

The Taoiseach should not try to hide behind the excellence of healthcare workers to try to deny the failures of his Government. I direct my comments to him and his colleagues in government. Yesterday, we had 704 people on trolleys and today, we have 712 people on trolleys. A survey has revealed that three quarters of nurses surveyed stated that they have considered leaving their posts. The Taoiseach has acknowledged that we have considerable pressure in the system and massive shortfalls. By the way, the Government has consistently fallen short of the targets it has set for the delivery of beds.

The Taoiseach has described the problem; I am now asking him to describe his solution. I again ask him to respond to that survey finding, and to the very clear low morale and real pressure that nurses, midwives and others are experiencing in the health service. I ask him to set out whether the Government is prepared to publish a multi-annual plan for beds, but also for personnel and staff to deliver those beds.

I have only seen the media reports of the survey the Deputy mentioned. I have not had a chance to read it yet. My understanding from what I was briefed on earlier is that it relates to three out of four staff having considered at some point leaving their work area, not necessarily their profession, which is obviously a different thing. However, I acknowledge that we need to continue to improve terms, conditions and pay for our healthcare staff, including our doctors and nurses. We have a pay deal which was ratified by a large majority by the nursing unions. No doubt we will begin discussions on a further pay deal to come into place later this year. As I outlined, we are increasing staffing. We have more than 6,000 more nurses, midwives and doctors in our public health service than was the case when this Government came to office and we will continue to do that. The Ministers, Deputies Coveney and Harris, have met representatives of the INMO and are working with them on changes we can make around safety in the workplace, which is really important, and tougher sentences for people who abuse our front-line workers.

The Deputy has many criticisms. She never acknowledges the success of our health service and the things we achieve in our health service. She never puts forward any solutions. I am not surprised that she does not because north of the Border, where her party has been in office-----

Here we go again.

It is important that the Deputy hears it.

Those in Sinn Féin do not want to know anything.

They do not like the truth.

It is important that Deputy McDonald hears it because north of the Border her party has been in and out of government for nearly 20 years, and has held the office of finance minister, health minister and joint Head of Government on regular occasions. I would take the patient outcomes and the performance of our health service down here anytime over those in Northern Ireland-----

Tell Rishi Sunak that.

-----where patient outcomes are worse, waiting lists are higher and staff get paid much less.

Tell the British Prime Minister that. Tell your Tory colleagues that.