So leave it alone.

Tá fáilte romhat, a Edwin. I am not used to seeing you in this setting, but you are very welcome. I am sure we all agree on that. Over the last few days people have listened in horror to the testimony presented at the inquest into the death of 16-year-old Aoife Johnston. Aoife died in University Hospital Limerick on 17 December 2022. The inquest is ongoing and we await its verdict. We have heard that on that fateful night in 2022 when Aoife presented to the emergency department it was under enormous sustained press…

The Taoiseach says he is listening, but clearly he is not. If everything were as rosy as he portrays, how is it that University Hospital Limerick consistently has the highest trolley count? How is it that front-line staff and their unions consistently have said they do not have the staff to deal with the level of demand? This is a hospital that is enduring surge every single day. The Taoiseach is not disputing that fact.

The facts as they present on the ground are that the emergency department is not safe. People do not believe the hospital is safe, and that is a major problem. The panels have been established. Additional staff are needed, as are additional hospital beds. We have to start from a position of acceptance. The Taoiseach can quote whatever figures he wishes. We could go into the history of the closures at Nenagh and Ennis, which created a regional pressure point at University Hospital Limerick. That is all in the past, …

The hospital is unsafe. The Taoiseach should acknowledge that.

That is not in question.

For young Dubliners in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Stardust Ballroom was the place to be. It was a huge venue that hosted cabarets, concerts and discos at weekends. Such was its popularity that you could get a bus from the quays in the city centre directly to the nightclub in Artane. With three bars, a stage and a large dance floor, it was a wonderland for night-time revellers. At capacity, it held close to 1,500 people. It was a goldmine. It hosted names such as Joe Dolan, Dickie Rock, Cliff Richard, the i…

Hospitals are under enormous pressure. Chronic overcrowding means constant chaos in emergency departments. We are all painfully aware of the year-round crisis, which sees hundreds of patients suffer the indignity of lying on trolleys. More than 600 people were on trolleys in our hospitals yesterday; the number is 528 today. However, a not so visible but real consequence of overcrowding is the soaring level of hospital appointment cancellations. On the watch of this Government last year, 250,000 hospital appointment…

I did not raise with the Taoiseach the issue of wait times-----

I raised the issue of cancellations, and 250,000, that is, a quarter of a million hospital cancellations, is a record. We do not have to compare it with anything. It is a record level of cancellations, and it included-----

-----800 cancellations of children's chemotherapy appointments. I am astonished by the Taoiseach's approach to this. It appears that he wishes to argue statistical presentational issues. He is not challenging, I am sure, the fact that there were a quarter of a million hospital cancellations. The Taoiseach accepts that, does he? Does he accept also that there were 800 cancellations of chemotherapy appointments for children? I do not care whether he thanks me. His view of me is irrelevant on this issue. I want it sor…

But that is not the issue. The issue is people's appointments being cancelled.

This is ludicrous.

And where there are a quarter of a million cancellations.

A quarter of a million.

So Peadar Gilligan is wrong.

Absolutely.

It is so utterly dull, that we are hearing this in the Dáil. New Taoiseach, old fogey, young fogey.

I am happy to confirm for the Taoiseach that the health policy is very much on our website.

No, it did not. It was never-----