Solidarity- People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny has slammed the government and Health Minister Simon Harris over the “chronic problems in the Heath system that never seem to end”.

The TD for Dublin Mid-West said that despite regular promises and commitments from the Fine Gael government and the Health Minister Simon Harris that they would resolve the health and trolley crisis, going back to 2007 with Enda Kenny’s now infamous ‘I’ll end the scandal of patients on trolleys’, there has been no resolution to the scandal of patients on trolleys because of hospital overcrowding.

Figure from the INMO put the number of people on trolleys at 760 patients.

He pointed out that the common theme of the government obsession and reliance on the private sector for delivering key services such as health, housing, infrastructure and key services was the root of the problem.

Gino Kenny TD said: “For years, going back to Enda Kenny’s 2007 general election pitch that he would end the trolley crisis, we have heard promises from Fine Gael and Fianna Fail that they would be the ones to resolve the crisis. This has not happened.

“Fine Gael and Simon Harris have allowed this crisis to grow over the years since they have been in government. The crisis not only stems from successive Fianna Fail governments, but Michael Martin has been propping up the government that have overseen the deterioration of our Health service and the trolley crisis.

“What needs to happen is the state needs to improve the pay and conditions for nurses and start a major recruitment drive. Only with increased health staff numbers can we open up more wards to admit these people on trolleys.

“The government have failed us on housing, health, key infrastructure and services and they have an obsession with privatisation of these things- this government needs to go because of their failures in these areas.”