An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-23
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Sarah O'Reilly (AON), Agricultural Panel

I also wish to be associated with the expressions of congratulations to Senator Ahearn. If the last two weeks have been anything to go on, he will do a really good job.
Last Thursday, I attended a meeting of the Cavan and Monaghan Hospital Campaign Group, where people gathered to share stories of their experiences of hospitals in the Cavan-Monaghan area. It seems to me that a pattern is emerging across all the hospitals in the country. I say this after having listened to people recount stories in here. We are hearing stories about people being left in hospital beds, being discharged when they needed care, waiting a long time in accident and emergency departments, issues with diagnoses and, sadly, people who have had family members dying in cold, crowded wards.
I was recently in Castlebar hospital with a family member who was receiving critical care. They were placed in a ward with somebody who was actively dying. That person had the death rattle for nearly two days. The other people in the ward were extremely upset. It is so distressing for the family, for the patient, and for everybody else in the place. At that time, I contacted a friend whose mother had passed away to apologise that I would not be able to make it to the funeral. That person had a similar experience in Cavan hospital, where the parent was in the ward, surrounded by people who were coming and going from a busy ward with visitors, and all there was to protect their privacy was a hospital curtain. We all know that nurses and doctors give great care and do their best, but that those situations would not happen if there was another option. Our services are overrun. They are way beyond capacity and staff are overwhelmed. We need to hear these stories so that we can try to fix what is wrong in our hospital system. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world and this should not be happening.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-23