Today we remember the crew of Rescue 111, who gave their lives off the coast of Waterford, near Tramore, after a successful search and rescue mission. Those brave men were Captain Dave O'Flaherty, recipient of the distinguished service medal, DSM; Captain Mike Baker, recipient of the DSM; Sergeant Paddy Mooney, recipient of the DSM; and Corporal Niall Byrne, recipient of the DSM.

I will turn to a report by Niall O'Connor on thejournal.ie. He reported that the 26 investigations of alleged abuse in the Defence Forces announced by the Garda Commissioner have failed to progress and are no longer live. The Garda is now investigating some other historical cases. We are told there are fewer than ten such cases. The 26 cases investigated arose from the deeply flawed independent review group report. The review report was based on hearsay and not on tested evidence. The damage it has done to the defence community, indeed, the defence family, is incalculable and will take years to undo. So many in the Oireachtas were quick to the gallows with their ropes to join the lynching mob. So few called for a pause and for the serious allegations to be tested at a tribunal. No member of the Defence Forces wants to serve with rapists, sexual abusers, bullies or thugs. We in the defence family are proud and loyal citizens of the State. How difficult it has been for those who are gagged under pain of military law to stay silent, unable to speak out. Today I speak for all the voiceless.

The Tánaiste is to bring the Defence (Amendment) Bill to this House tomorrow. I ask him to remove the deeply offensive sections that attempt to gag the Defence Forces' representative bodies. When questioned, the Secretary General of the Department said the gagging was at the request of the Chief of Staff. If that is untrue, the Chief of Staff must say so in public.

With respect to the deeply disturbing recent events in Limerick, no one could defend the perpetrator. That said, how quick the political leaders, starting with the Taoiseach, were to jump on the populist bandwagon and condemn all who served, questioning how many Defence Forces members are currently hiding in the force with convictions of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. How quick the social media classes were to turn on the officer who was bound under military law to appear in court and report on the private's military record. That was not a character reference of any sort. How quick the news media were to publish the fact that 68 members had been convicted or were awaiting charge for specified criminal offences. Why were they portrayed as all sexual offences? That is how they have been seen.

Did one politician step up to the plate and take responsibility for the failure of the Oireachtas to provide a full Minister to oversee defence? It is deeply disturbing to note that the most senior officer in the Defence Forces, the Chief of Staff, and the former Chief of Staff, who does not wear the uniform and is no longer bound by military law, seem unwilling or unable to speak out for their charge. Surely he knows that the thousands of members, women and men, are exemplary citizens, as my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, said. I am heartbroken that not one commentator could bring himself or herself to defend the good name of the services - the Navy, the Army and the Air Corps. Today I ask who defends the defenders, the great women and men who today stand ready to serve and who today are in peril in south Lebanon. I am proud to have served with great people and I will defend them to the grave if nobody else will.

This is the first time I have addressed the new Deputy Leader since he got the job because I was away last week. I offer my congratulations. It is good to see him.

I pay tribute to Deputies Catherine Murphy and Shortall, who, I heard only an hour ago, are going to step away from politics. I hope we can all agree they have both made huge contributions to political life. While we have our political differences, they have both played significant roles. I think of their work on the repeal campaign and the leadership they showed at that time. They have been a force for positivity in politics in general and I will take a moment to wish them well in whatever they plan to do in the future.

It will come as no surprise to the Deputy Leader that the first matter I will raise with him on the Order of Business is University Hospital Limerick, which is a topic I bring up regularly. The most recent horror story is that people over the age of 75 have been moved in the middle of the night, between the hours of midnight and 7 a.m, out of the hospital or into a model 2 hospital.

The reports from staff are horrific. They see pensioners crying and in deep distress, with no understanding of why they are being moved at this particular time. Nineteen such residents have been moved in the past 90 days. The hospital is denying that any such policy is in place but, interestingly, the National Ambulance Service is reviewing its policy on late discharges, which tells you that a policy is in place. It is reviewing it because of a number of complaints from staff. The most worrying thing is that staff themselves have been warned to stop complaining about the issue. They have been threatened with disciplinary action.

I want to be clear that the heart of this issue is the lack of capacity in UHL. There is no other reason why some poor unfortunate man or woman in his or her late 70s is being moved in the middle of the night. It all comes back to lack of capacity at the hospital. The figures get worse every year. When Fine Gael started in government, there were 3,500 patients on trolleys. We are heading for 25,000 patients this year. We were at the halfway mark yesterday, with 12,313 patients on trolleys. We are consistently told about the investment going in but, frankly, it has not gone in in a timely fashion. We are 200 beds short as I stand here and speak today. More worryingly again, there is no recruitment policy in place yet to staff the next set of beds that is due to come on stream for quarter 1 of next year. I am happy to put on record here that there is no change of those beds actually opening in the first quarter of next year. I know that because I know how long it takes to hire nurses. I know that because the nursing unions have said to me directly that it is not happening.

We have delay after delay and it all belongs to the Deputy Leader's Government. There is a consistent failure to recognise the catastrophic issues with UHL, that we need a second emergency department somewhere in the mid-west and to take action in that regard. After 15 years, the people in the mid-west are still waiting. What is happening to those old age pensioners at the minute is unforgivable. I am calling for an urgent debate and an investigation into why that policy is in place at University Hospital Limerick.