Hospital Overcrowding Dail Éireann — 2023-06-01 ============================================================ Duncan Smith (LAB), Dublin Fingal The Minister mentioned that Saturday is the best day, and I know what he means. However, the average figures are such that even when we get to Friday and Saturday, the numbers are still far too high because of the carryover from the weekend. In respect of the seven-day roster, a number of unions, such as the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, has said it is willing to talk. The Minister said in an earlier reply that he is setting up a working group. Will he articulate in more detail which groups are reluctant or more resistant to come to talks? Where are the blockages? Where can political pressure be applied to elements of the health service that are not moving as quickly towards a seven-day working roster that we all agree is needed to help tackle this ongoing crisis? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-06-01/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:59+00:00 Sitting date: 2023-06-01