I want to bring to the Tánaiste's attention the spate of outpatient appointment cancellations in a hospital in County Kildare. In Naas General Hospital, for the months of January, February, March and April, there have been a total of 2,678 appointment cancellations. I do not lay the blame on the brilliant staff but on the Government because it rejected our motion to tackle hospital waiting lists and I implore the Government to act on it now. At the heart of this issue are people we represent; our families, neighbours and friends. They are not mere statistics; they are people who need care and their lives are waiting on that care. We need to address this issue now. That is not to mention the medical staff. They are all over the place and they are overworked, due to the staffing shortages. I want to know what the Government is going to do to fix this problem.

Motions do not change anything. If we want to be serious about solving issues, we can play politics with motions or we can try to solve the issues. Staffing numbers have increased significantly in all hospitals. In the case of Naas General Hospital, there is a significant difference between the staffing levels five years ago versus today. There is a balance and resources will continue to be applied to health, but there is also a balance in using those resources in the most effective and efficient way possible. Patients are the concern of all of us and we have to put patients first. There can be different reasons for cancellations and we do not have the time in the one-minute exchange allowed here to go through all of that, but there can be good reasons for some and poor reasons for others.