Childish.

Bombs are raining down.

Can we have a little order? Please show respect. I call Deputy Joan Collins.

I would like to put on the record that I agree with the last two leaders in their calls on Palestine. I raise the specific issue concerning the health service.

Another woman for the Taoiseach to mansplain to.

We saw in the budget last month the political choice to underfund our health service. At the Joint Committee on Health in September, the CEO of the HSE said the level of underfunding would amount to between €1.4 billion and €1.5 billion in 2023. On the same day, the Secretary General of the Department of Health said this budget would be a definite underfunding of existing levels of service. The Government totally ignored warnings from healthcare trade unions and patient advocacy organisations of the catastrophic consequences of this dramatic underfunding. Anyone who has had to deal with the crisis in the HSE could tell you the same thing.

Six days ago, there was the release of the first Irish national ICU audit annual report. The report showed the crisis in the number of ICU beds. It found that there are just six critical care beds per 100,000 people, less than half of the OECD average of 14.1. The average ICU bed occupancy was 88.5%, above the recommended maximum of 85%.

I, like all other Deputies, know we are dealing with a crisis across the HSE but I raise the particular cases of two women directly affected by the lack of ICU beds. Both have been awaiting care for years due to a lack of ICU beds for post-operative care. One woman waited four years for an operation on her scoliosis originally scheduled in 2018. She only got the operation after I raised it in the House a number of times. In February this year, after suffering from worsening pain and discomfort, it was found that the bones around her spine had weakened and the rods and screws had become loose. She had a further scan in May. It had got worse and she was told surgery was needed urgently. She is still waiting in a lot of pain as her doctor told her there are no ICU beds available for her to have her operation.

I am also aware of another case of a woman with a hernia. She is in great pain. Her stomach has distended because her organs have come out of place. She has been waiting in pain since 2019 as her doctor has told her there is no ICU bed for her to have her operation. This woman has been waiting since 2019. I raised this matter a number of times in parliamentary questions. How will the HSE deliver care for people like these two women I am working with when it has been underfunded by this Government? It made a political decision to underfund our health service. It is essentially a cut given inflation and growth in demand at a time when people are in pain for months and years because of a lack of services and beds. What will the Taoiseach do to increase ICU bed capacity despite the budget restrictions his Government has imposed on the HSE?

Under this Government, there are record levels of spending and investment in healthcare. Spending on healthcare will increase next year, not go down. There are also record levels of staff working in our health service. There are 20,000 more staff than there were when this Government came into office, including 6,000 extra nurses and midwives and about 2,000 extra doctors and dentists. Those are the facts. They are producing results. Waiting lists, which peaked after the pandemic, are now falling. They are down by about 20% since the peak, which is not the case in most other European countries. While we experience very serious problems in emergency department overcrowding, there are about 70 fewer patients on trolleys today than was the case this time last year. There are also big improvements in patient outcomes, particularly around cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease. We have a higher life expectancy in Ireland than almost any other European country. It is a far cry from the NHS system which the Deputy wants to see brought into Ireland, where life expectancy is lower, patient outcomes are worse, people wait longer and staff are paid a lot less.

I did not mention the NHS.

That is the vision the Deputy has for Ireland, which I hope never comes to pass. On ICU beds, it is an area in which the Government has been very active in the past three years. We increased the number of ICU beds considerably since the pandemic and will continue to do so. That programme will not be adversely affected in the next year. As everyone will understand in this House, it is not just about a bed or the equipment; it is about being able to staff it. That means nurses with full ICU qualifications, anaesthetists and a cohort of doctors in training behind them. There is no recruitment restriction at all on ICU nurses, anaesthetists or doctors on the anaesthetic training programme.

I accept that money has been put into the health service - there is no doubt about it - but we are coming from a very low level in the first place. The national lCU audit annual report specifically stated there are just six critical care beds per 100,000 people, after a record level of money into the health service. That is less than half of the OECD average of 14.1.

The reality is these two women, one of whom has waited for her operation since 2019 according to replies I have received from St. James's Hospital, are still waiting, even though I received a reply in June that one woman would be seen by her consultant in the hospital. One woman is still waiting because the hospital cannot organise to have post critical care beds in place after her operation. She has been told the operation will last for at least five hours because they have to put all of the organs back into place before they can sort out the hernia. It does not matter whether this is about one woman or 20 women or men. The fact is that, on the ground, it is not happening and people are waiting because of the lack of ICU beds or because they cannot be linked in with their operations. That is the reality. That has to be dealt with.

I thank the Deputy. I am very sorry to hear about that lady's experience. It is impossible for me to comment on any individual case without having all of the details. Complex surgery requires a lot of resources, staff and theatre time and ICU beds to be available.

She has waited since 2019.

Sometimes ICU beds go to emergencies rather than people who are on waiting lists. We are expanding ICU and HDU bed capacity. I do not have the exact figures in front of me, but I understand there has been an increase of 25% in the past three years alone under this Government. I will check the figures and come back to the Deputy with the detail in writing.

The Taoiseach is contradicting reports that came out quite recently.

You might want to table a Topical Issue on that specific case.